The Dominican Republic was a partner country at Fitur 2022 and can now look forward to reaping the fruits of what was achieved in Madrid.
Tourism Minister David Collado spoke to Diario Libre about the Dominican experience and the challenges facing this important sector of the economy.
What did the Fitur challenge mean for the Ministry of Tourism?
The truth is that Fitur 2022 was a challenge. We made the decision at last year’s Fitur, in April 2021, where there was little face-to-face public attendance and a minimum number of countries with stands. We analyzed that the vision was to work in favor of the country’s recovery. 899 thousand Dominicans live directly or indirectly from tourism, 15% of GDP, 7 billion a year in foreign exchange enter the country, a stabilizer. Banco Popular alone has 59 billion pesos invested in the tourism sector, so bankruptcy of the tourism sector would destabilize banking. In 2021, we kept the same stand and we wanted to show signs of openness and recovery and that we had another strategy. We signed as a partner country on condition that never before activities took place, such as the president of Ifema coming to the Dominican Republic to hold a press conference, or RD was going to participate in their press conference and we took on this challenge. Our country shone and we received six awards. We could see how the Reserve Bank signed intentions to buy worth US$1300 million, that Banco Popular closed financing for US$1200 million and, the President and I were guaranteed investments of US$1600 million. The Dominican Republic is trending. To say that Fitur was a total success, is only the half of it. The truth is that we made the most of Fitur 2022.
What is the biggest challenge facing Dominican tourism after the pandemic and having stabilized?
We need more hotel rooms. More hotel rooms are needed to reach the goal of 10 million tourists. That is why we are celebrating the private sector investments worth US$ 1,600 million, which was what they confirmed to us directly. Now we have to cross check between Popular, Reservas and ourselves to see which projects coincide. There are others that bring their own capital or foreign financing, but the Dominican Republic needs at least 20,000 or 25,000 extra rooms. We have 83-85 thousand rooms. We have about 16,000 that are starting construction, but we need at least 125,000 rooms. Airbnbs are playing an important role, every time we see the data, there are more foreigners who stay on Airbnb and it is a pending issue of the Dominican State that must be regularized.
Which tourists visit the Dominican Republic the most?
The United States is our main source of tourists. From January to June, 80% of the tourists who arrived in the country were Americans. We were able to keep our head above water and keep the ball rolling thanks to American tourism. What did we do? We doubled our efforts on the road in the United States to showcase the Dominican Republic and this was very welcome. Our second best destination is Canada, but their borders were closed most of the time, but Russian tourism helped compensate for this. In December, Russian tourism doubled, and in December 2021, 55 thousand arrived, and so we are seeing which market we promote. Argentina is a good market and so is Colombia. 30,000 Colombians arrived in December.
What are we going to do with the problems of pollution and urbanization of the beaches?
We have started a beach rescue plan, to put lighting, security cameras, free internet, reorganize the vendors, coexist with them, we believe in a tourism that does without turning its back on the reality of the Dominican people. We started in Guayacanes, we are in Macao, in Galeras, in Los Patos, San Cristóbal and we will get to Boca Chica.
Will Pedernales’ situation change with the master plan?
Pedernales is a very important project for the government. There are six confirmed hotel chains, with letters of intent and agreements signed and we understand that by June construction will begin on the hotels. Development begins with an environmentally friendly first stage. Pedernales is a reality. But we are also about to raise the tender for the Samana boardwalk, as I said from the beginning, we believe in the development of tourist poles that also benefit the community and we trust that by the middle of the year, (the works at) Pedernales will already be a reality.
We can also talk about a new destination, that of Miches. Nine months ago, we signed with the private sector that the government and tourism cabinet to make the infrastructure… and we are in the final stage in Miches and the entrepreneurs committed to an investment of US$ 1 billion and it’s already underway.
Is there anything to be done with the high tax rates on air tickets?
Studies show that it is not taxes that are the problem, but that when airlines have no competition, they raise the prices and that is why in December we offered flights from New York at US$ 500 because they were at US$ 1700, and that is over the top for the average person to have to pay. Our strategic plan is to have flagship airlines make the Dominican Republic their “hub”, open new routes to boost competition. We are at the same level in tax matters compared to Mexico. Here the issue is competition, airlines have to lower prices.
What other type of tourism can we develop apart from sun and sea?
We will promote gastronomic, cultural and religious tourism. There are cities like Antigua, which receive all their tourists at Easter. We are also going to strengthen ecotourism and little by little we have been doing that. We are repairing Las Marias in Bahoruco, an iconic bathing resort, and we are looking for other places to boost ecotourism, we believe in the diversity that tourism in the Dominican Republic has.
Source: Diario Libre [:]
Source:
Diario Libre