The National Hotel and Restaurant Association (Asonahores) has hired a public relations agency in Germany to carry out a plan to counter adverse press reports that have been published in Germany, Switzerland and Austria in recent weeks.
The president of the organization, Frank R. Rainieri, said that the effort will be supported by the Ministry of Tourism and the Minister of Tourism himself, Frank Jorge Elías.
The German press has published a series of unfavorable articles following the crash of the Birgen Air 757 in Puerto Plata on 6 February and the delaying of another aircraft filled with German tourists at the Aeropuerto Internacional Gregorio Luperón of Puerto Plata.
Contact & Creation of Frankfurt has been awarded the contract. The company has experience in handling Dominican affairs and a large portfolio of clients related to German tourism. Germany is the largest single country source of tourists for the Dominican Republic.
The first event will be a press conference on Monday, 11 March in Berlin, where Jorge Elías and Frank Rainieri will both address the press. The event will be held within the activities of the International Tourism Bourse-ITB which is held annually in Berlin. This year the event is being held between 9 and 12 March. The ITB is considered the most important travel fair in Europe and one of the most important, if not the most important, for the world travel industry.
The public relations effort is being coordinated by Simón Súarez, vice president of ASONAHORES and president of the Tourism Promotion Council (CPT), the organization that is in charge of promotion and international public relations for the private tourism sector.
Also participating are Arturo Villanueva, executive vice president of ASONAHORES and the CPT; Evelyn Paiewonsky of the CPT; and CICOM, the local public relations agency for ASONAHORES and CPT.
The contact with the German public relations agency will last throughout the entire year of 1996, according to the press release from ASONAHORES.