The Association of Hotels of Santo Domingo has been promoting a reorganization of the Festival de Merengue. The idea is that the event should become the principal festival in the city, attracting visitors and locals alike in the style of the Newport Jazz Festival, or the samba-oriented Festival de Rio of Brazil.
A committee has been meeting to organize a new program of events that would improve the present Festival, while motivating the whole city of Santo Domingo and the rest of the country into thinking Merengue while the event is taking place. As a result, they hope that the Festival will have a spin-off effect thus promoting tourism and business for all.
Tourism consultant Juan Lladó, who has been spearheading the effort, wrote in a recent column in El Siglo that the Comite Gestor del Patronato recently decided to create a committee or Patronato de Apoyo to support the Ministry of Tourism in organizing the event. The committee is now awaiting a meeting with Minister of Tourism, Frank Jorge Elias.