This fabled sea, covering more than a million square miles and 7,000 islands with diverse languages, cultures, and ecosystems, has become probably the planet's premier vacation playground. Here it's all about its regional issues and allures. And yes, the (Plus) means we're including the Bahamas and Bermuda along with the Caribbean coasts of Colombia, Costa Rica, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Suriname, and Panama.
For other individual island forums, check out Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Cuba, Curaçao, the Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, Saba, Statia (St. Eustatius), St. Barts, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Maarten/Martin, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Why Dominica is the Caribbean´s quintessential "Nature Isle"
David Stanley No megaresorts, no swim-up bars three deep with cocktails, no overrun tourist attractions, no pushy touts. This 290-square-mile bit of lush real estate wedged between Guadeloupe and Martinique is all rainforest, river, and volcano, with just enough sea and sand to satisfy beach lovers. But while Dominica is just 29 miles tip to tip and 16 across, don't let the size fool you into thinking you can zip around in an hour. The interior is all steep, forested mountains, so even the…
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Comments
We all know the differences from one island to the next, historically, topographically, culturally, linguistically, gastronomically, etc. It's never been easy conveying the Caribbean's heterogeneity to our readers. Now in these times when outlets want 47-word Twitter-esque write-ups (that fit on a typical cell phone screen), it's well-nigh impossible.
And while the Caribbean nations try to cooperate on larger PR initiatives, they remain competitors, so don't be surprised to see some islands subtly capitalize on the Kingston problem, just as they did after Natalie Holloway's disappearance on Aruba (which impacted overall tourism to the region!)---or just as the ABC Islands take pains to point out that they don't suffer major weather events, the promotional equivalent of hitting below the hurricane belt.
"Jamaica unrest said creating problem for regional tourism
LAST week's deadly unrest in Jamaica's capital of Kingston has created a major public relations crisis for the Caribbean, St Lucia's Tourism Minister Allan Chastanet has said.
Chastanet, a former chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that the region's tourism product is suffering from the television pictures of burning buildings, soldiers engaging gunmen in street battles and coffins containing bodies being splashed across the globe.
He said when visitors speak of coming to the Caribbean for a vacation, Jamaica is among the first countries that come to mind.
Chastanet said tourists view the Caribbean as a group of countries that are connected and 'there are some people that are not able to differentiate one island from another'."
Could you take a look at a collaboration that we are doing with Cap Maison on St. Lucia? If so I'll forward over the details and press release..
Steve
Allie, I wish I could, too, but the word-count restrictions are intense -- and while my editors do a fine job, inevitably some details, factual to evocative, are lost in the cutting and rearranging....
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