Home  News Corporate News SERVICE IS THE OBJECTIVE AT DOPCO
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SERVICE IS THE OBJECTIVE AT DOPCO |
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Thursday, 08 March 2007 |
Click on the loudspeaker to listen to the audio Interview The overall success of any sector of the economy depends on every player sincerely doing the best he/she possibly can aiming for the highest level all the time.
 MR. MATTHEW DOPWELL
Along with his brother Don, Matthew Dopwell runs Dopco Limited, a company that has for several years been facilitating quality travel packages to the Republic of Venezuela acting as agents for different Venezuela base airlines at different periods. Dopco Limited is also a tour operator, being the local representative for reputable international tour operators out of Canada. Presently the Grenadian agent for the Venezuelan airline Condiasa, Dopco has developed packages which include tours to Margarita.
Dopwell explained that the packages include airline ticket, transfers between airport and your hotel, hotel accommodation and access to a ground tour operator who will look after you while in that country. It is important to note however, that a Dopco package to Venezuela is certainly not an ordinary boring matter. People who have been there will testify that it is probably the best decision they have made where a vacation or shopping trip is concerned.
Not only is the shopping world class but you can visit some of the most attractive sites and scenic locations in the world. With the exchange of the Bolivar to the U.S. dollar being what it is shopping in Venezuela will be an almost irresistible attraction to anyone and the products that you can shop for are comparable to anywhere else. Add to that, attractions such as the highest waterfall in the world, the Angel Falls, beautiful beaches and many other world famous attractions. In addition these trips are famous for the level of service and hospitality that the visitor is exposed to.
Dopwell thinks there is ample opportunity for growth within the local tourism industry but as far as Dopco is concerned he is more attracted to the prospects in the airline aspect of his business.
He said Dopco has been dealing mainly with representation of airlines and prefers to choose airlines to deal with as they do out of Toronto with the tour companies. Dopwell said he can see some growth coming out of Venezuela once the marketing is done right. He can also see the charter business picking up and hopes that after world cup cricket Grenada will have the hotel rooms needed to accommodate larger volumes of visitors. He thinks that with some more promotion the Toronto based side of the business will also develop. He said if things are done properly it can improve to the level of Barbados or Trinidad. Titan Tours operates weekly charters into Trinidad and Barbados has many charter companies bringing visitors there on a weekly basis.
Asked whether the problem of limited hotel rooms is affecting his business, Dopwell said in certain ways.
However it is a balancing act he said since the companies that the tour operator aspect of Dopco Limited represents are mainly up market companies so it is not volume tourism. That being the case, having a lot of hotel rooms may be a disadvantage in that aspect of tourism. He said it is good to have enough but not good to have too much in the sense that too many hotel rooms could cause the sort of problems that took place in Barbados and St. Lucia. In clarifying the difference between a tour operator and airline agent, Dopwell said with one your duties are to take care of the client here and with the other your duty is to get the client out. Tour operators look after the visitors once they get into Grenada. They meet them at the airport, provide transportation to the hotel and make sure that the visitors are happy and comfortable. The tour operator then sells them tours, helps them to see the country and have a good time then takes them back to the airport when they are ready to leave ensuring smooth departure.
The company is paid by the tour operators abroad to provide this service.
As an airline agent you are dealing with people just as they purchase the ticket.
When they leave the country they are no longer your responsibility. The Dopco managers said a lot of the up market tour clients are repeat visitors who come to Grenada every year. Ways have to be sought to keep their visits exciting and his company has to therefore keep looking for new activities for them to enjoy. People in this category have money to spend Dopwell said and they want things to do but they will they will not do the same things and visit the same places every time they come to Grenada. In the case of first timers, on arrival they are given an introduction to Grenada, then their special interests are determined and everything done tofulfill those interests.  THE OFFICE OF DOPCO LTD. However he worries that sometimes we take too long to do certain basic little things that don’t require much money to do but are important all the same. Dopwell thinks a lot more effort should be put into getting some of these basic things done. He sees this shortcoming as more of an administrative problem rather than a policy problem.
He said a lot of the problem has to do with the sites and attractions, little thing like toilets not working, taps out of order, untidiness in some places things that do not cost much money to fix. The tourism enthusiast feels that Fort George can be easily transformed into a great tourist attraction. He said Puerto Rico has done wonders with the old San Juan and made it very attractive just by cleaning up the place. On the Fort George compound there are still a lot of left over debris from Hurricane Ivan with no attempt being made to clean them up. Dopwell admonishes that our competitors are no longer small islands with limited resources like ours and the same problems that we have but places like Indonesia and South Africa where they are trying their best to make their country attractive. If we want to stay on top of the game, although we don’t have money to do the big things we have to do the little things and show people we are serious about what we are doing. He is concerned that sometimes we focus too much on the big things and ignore the small but important things. The businessman is also concerned about the attitude of the general population towards hospitality. He said every person in every shop is representing Grenada and he has noticed that people are not as polite and helpful as we need to be to make a good impression. CSME he said while it has its challenges, these can be changed into opportunities to form strong partnerships and business relationships. It also gives us the opportunity to improve on our standards in order to compete. With regard to world cup cricket Dopwell said while his business does not stand to benefit much he thinks the country as a whole will benefit and that is good for all of us. Dopwell began his career in the tourism sector in 1971 with LIAT and left in 1973 to manage Huggins Travel Service.
He left Huggins in 1985 to co-found M&C Travel and in 1999 separated from M&C, bought out the shares of Windward Islands Travel and together with his brother formed Dopco. Dopwell trusts in God and said He will give direction to his path for the future. He enjoys offering a good service and also teaching and guiding people who are interested in the path that he has chosen.
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