ALTERNATIVE TO MASS TOURISM IN DOMINICA

An analysis of tourist accommodations, market, and economy on the island of Dominica reveals a tourism industry that represents an appropriate and viable alternative to the conventional varieties of mass tourism dominant in the Caribbean. Dominica started out as a "circumstantial" Alternative Tourism (AT) destination, where the desire to develop large-scale tourism was constrained by unfavorable environmental and political conditions. However, the island since 1971 has moved in the direction of a "deliberate" AT policy, emphasizing the attractiveness of its mountainous and forested interior to a growing ecotourist market. Current tourism growth and development in Dominica appears to be occuring in a way that conforms with the philosophy of deliberate AT. © 1991.