SECTORAL RECOVERY CAPACITY ASSESSMENT FOR DOMINICA’S TOURISM SECTOR CONTEXT KEY RESULTS The capacity of Dominica’s tourism sector The Caribbean region is highly prone to disasters, causing destruction to implement climate resilient and inclusive of infrastructure and property, loss of income, and costs as individuals and recovery projects in a timely, efficient, and businesses work around disruptions. Disasters jeopardize sustainable de- effective manner is evaluated as basic. velopment and economic growth prospects and have a disproportionate impact on the poor. Indeed, the economic damages and losses related to Strengths: natural hazards in the Caribbean represent a yearly average of 3.6 percent of the regional Gross Domestic Product.1 • Major progress has been made in the integration of recovery and climate Fast and inclusive recovery efforts in the aftermath of disasters can resilience in national and sectoral policy lower social and economic burdens and allow a more rapid recovery and strategic processes supporting of development levels2. With climate change and the prospect of more Dominica’s vision of becoming the first frequent hydrometeorological disasters, resilient recovery planning and climate resilient nation in the world. investments have become a priority for the region. This involves assessing • There is a moderate level of resources and building the capacity needed to ensure the fast and efficient restora- and tools available for recovery. tion of services, economic activities, and infrastructure. Constraints: Sectoral Recovery Capacity Assessment (SRCA), developed by the Canada-Cari- • Incipient competencies, operational bbean Resilience Facility (CRF)3 and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management capacity and skills available within the Agency (CDEMA), analyzes the capacity of key sectors for efficient and coordinated Ministry of Tourism and the private actors recovery and provides recommendations to improve recovery processes along three involved in the sector limit the planning, main axes: Governance, Competencies and Resources and Tools. Results are part of implementation and monitoring of CDEMA’s Comprehensive Disaster Management Audit tool. recovery projects. • There is a critical need to strengthen and THE TOURISM SECTOR IN DOMINICA: sustain disaster risk management, gender • Contributes 32.2 percent of GDP (2019)4. and disability mainstreaming capacity • Represents 82 percent of total exports4. within the Ministry of Tourism to ensure sectoral decisions are risk informed and • Employs 35.9 percent of the labor force 4. inclusive. • Is highly exposed to natural hazards and vulnerable to climate change. • There are limitations in the availability • Is highly dependent on infrastructure. of hazard and risk information, and in the offer of and access to financial THE SRCA FOR DOMINICA’S TOURISM mechanisms for recovery in the sector, including insurance. With the objective of assessing the capacity Dominica’s tourism sec- tor to plan, design, implement, monitor, and evaluate climate resil- ient and inclusive recovery projects, the SRCA was implemented in the country’s tourism sector under the leadership of the Ministry of Tourism, International Transport and Maritime Initiatives (Ministry of Tourism) and the Office of Disaster Management (ODM), with the support of the CRF, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA). 1 Rozenberg, J. et. al (2021). 360° Resilience: A Guide to Prepare the Caribbean for a New Genera- tion of Shocks. World Bank, Washington, DC. 2 Hallegatte, S., Rentschler, J. and Walsh, B. (2018). Building Back Better: Achieving Resil- ience through Stronger, Faster, and More Inclusive Post-Disaster Reconstruction. World Bank, Washington, DC. 3 The Canada-Caribbean Resilience Facility (CRF) is hosted by the Global Facility for Disas- ter Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) at the World Bank Group. 4 World Travel and Tourism Council (2021). Dominica Economic Impact Report. Available at: https:// wttc.org/Research/Economic-Impact RECOVERY CAPACITY INDEX (RCI) FOR THE 11 KEY ELEMENTS ASSESSED SELECTED RECOMMENDATIONS TO SUPPORT READINESS FOR RESILIENT RECOVERY IN DOMINICA’S TOURISM SECTOR5 Institutional readiness Data and information for risk-informed decision-making • Complete the update of DOMINODE, Dominica’s public Policies Geographic Information System repository • Finalize and approve the Comprehensive Disaster Legislation • Construct a platform that provides simple and useful risk and the National Action Plan and Strategy on Disaster information to stakeholders in the tourism sector Risk Reduction contemplated in the National Resilience Development Strategy 2030 Infrastructure • Develop a recovery policy for the tourism sector, and a • Ensure the new investments that are being identified and costed national environmental policy. by the Climate Resilience Execution Agency for Dominica (CREAD) and government ministries include resilient infrastructure • Prepare and implement the Resilient Dominica Physical Plan projects that reduce the risk of service disruptions due to extreme and update building codes and design guidelines for the weather events. tourism industry. • Create a technical assistance plan with a range of risk reduction interventions to support hotel owners and other facilities in Knowledge and tools retrofitting assets exposed to meteorological hazards. • Recruit specialized staff in areas specific to disaster risk management. Finances • Institutionalize training in disaster risk management, gender • Estimate and include a contingent annual recovery allocation and disability inclusion for public and private sectoral in the Ministry of Tourism’s budget stakeholders. • Create a database of international recovery funding • Integrate DRM, gender and disability inclusion knowledge opportunities for tourism as requisites in public recruitment protocols. • Improve the availability and access requirements to resilience and recovery financial mechanisms for local tourism enterprises, including insurance • Create a plan to finance hardware and software updating and maintenance at the Ministry of Tourism. 5 Detailed recommendations are provided in Annex 1 of the Sectoral Recovery Capacity Assessment report.