The Hotel Association of the Dominican Republic’s issued a document with its position on the new policy of closer cooperation with the government.
An official statement
Important daily newspapers, opinion formers, and radio and television commentaries have been presenting much information and diverse opinions on the situation of the tourism industry. They have expressed their concern and called attention to the importance tourism has for the economy of the nation. These statements and the efforts of Asonahores with the authorities have engendered a response in the terms of special measures being implemented by the President of the Republic. As a result of these events, the Asociación Nacional de Hoteles y Restaurantes (Asonahores) wishes to make the following statement:
Asonahores considers the decision of President Joaquín Balaguer to postpone, until 31 October, the application of the tourist card fee to visitors coming from Britain as highly positive and beneficial to tourism. Our Association had requested this postponement as sales of summer packages and part of the winter packages were already underway before the government decided to apply the charge.
Asonahores also recognizes the decision of the President to assign 50% of the income generated by the tariffs and aeronautical fees, applied to passengers transported on charter flights, to the institutional promotion of the country. The decision to give participation to the private sector in the preparation of the rules to administer these resources and the promotional activities that will be funded also deserves special mention. The development of the institutional promotion of the Dominican Republic as a tourist destination is one of the principal challenges that the industry confronts, and it is especially important in these times when adverse factors our affecting our position in Germany, which is our principal market.
Asonahores would also like to recognize the President’s action in authorizing, by decree, the institutional participation of Asonahores in the meetings and deliberations of the Civil Aviation Board. For years, Asonahores had requested to be admitted to the organization considering that, as representative of the principal segment of the tourist industry, the Board should listen to its views when taking decisions that affect the air transportation of tourists.
Asonahores, in addition to emphasizing the importance and the positive dimension of these presidential decrees, would also like to make public that it acknowledges the responsibilities they convey and accepts this challenge with the same enthusiasm and institutional philosophy that characterize its work for national tourism development. It does so, aware that there is no time to lose.
Regarding information on tourism development, the reality is that in the first three months of the year the occupancy level of the hotels indicated that 1996 would be an excellent year. The results of April, May and June, nevertheless, have been poor, registering a drop in occupancy that broke the growth pattern of the last five years.
Taking May as the critical point, until 1995 the worst situation during that month had been registered in 1994, a year in which the occupancy showed a decline of 6%. In May of this year, occupancy declined by 11%, almost double the drop in 1994 and can be described as the worst. To complete the panorama of the year and better illustrate the situation to the country, we have to advise that in January of this year occupancy grew by 5%, in February 7%, in March 4%, but in April it only showed a 3% growth.
The first reports for June and the forecasts for July and August indicate that if the trend is not reversed, 1996 could be worse than 1994.
Asonahores has the role of keeping the country advised about what is happening, as its member hotels form the base of the industry, i.e. accommodating the tourists, and the other establishments that encourage their presence in the country.
The decline in occupancy has placed us on an alert. There has been a decline in traffic from Germany, our principal customer, a market from where some 450,000 visitors came in 1995, and that represents around a third of the foreigners that arrived in the country.
Since the Punta Cana International Airport opened, for example, the arrival of German tourists has shown extraordinary increases month after month. In May this year, we had a decrease of 3%, for the first time since 1991, and the estimates for June are also adverse. We have sufficient information to judge that the same has occurred at other airports around the country.
Today (24 June 1996), we have 3,600 weekly aircraft seats less than at the start of the year due to the stopping of four flights by the Taesa airline, three by Alas Nacionales, four operated by Air Ambar, and the equivalent combined of three flights from Condor, LTU, Martinair and Hapag Lloyd airlines.
This decline in the number of available seats equates to a loss of 149,000 passengers a year and about 33% of the number of Germans that visited the Dominican Republic in 1995.
The question is: What has happened to the flow of tourists from Germany?
Two factors have brought about the drop.
First, the German economy is going through a period of difficulties. The economy stopped growing last October and there has been a considerable increase in unemployment. This has caused uncertainty amongst the German people. The difficulties in Germany’s economy are a common factor for all tourist destinations, but we must say that other Caribbean islands have not been affected by the same decline in travelers we have seen here.
The second factor is a domestic one. It is the series of happenings that have occurred since February which have affected air transport between Germany and the Dominican Republic. The accident in February, the paralyzing of the flights of Taesa and Air Europe, the non-denial of the news regarding the prohibition flights by single engine aircraft for domestic air traffic, the stopping of the flights by Air Ambar and the denial of a flight authorization for World Airways. Each of these events has brought about a sequel of adverse publicity in Germany that has affected the image of the country as a holiday destination, a cardinal aspect when selling holiday packages in any market. Likewise, it has weakened the trust of the tour operators that are doing business with the Dominican Republic.
In view of this reality, Asonahores can only expose its criteria, namely to defend the national interest that resides in applying policies and taking necessary measures to preserve our markets and guarantee the growing flow of tourism to the country, all of which maintains the vitality of our tourist industry. Our participation in the Civil Aeronautics Board will be governed by these principles.
At this time, Asonahores considers what is most important is to find solutions in a joint effort with the two principal participants, the private sector and the government. Fortunately, these decrees are signals that the President of the Republic, as the country’s principal authority, is acting constructively, and promoting coordination of wills between the government and the private sector.
For Asonahores the actions to be taken are:
1) Regain the German tour operators trust in the national market by launching positive signs in regard to the matter of air transportation. In this particular, the participation of Asonahores on the Civil Aviation Board guarantees an exchange of information and greater understanding of the needs of tourism by the technicians at the Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil.
2) To propose that Civil Aviation Board and Ministry of Tourism send clear signals about opening up to airlines of recognized international standing and both German and non-German tour operators interested in expanding their business in this country.
3) Actions in the field of promotion:
First. An immediate action plan for the July-September quarter in the German market. For this, Asonahores has hired a public relations firm in Germany. Efforts are now underway and should become manifest with an intense and professional institutional promotion effort.
Second. Asonahores has held several consultative meetings with its members and it is considered a priority to prepare an “Action Marketing Plan 1997” of the most professional nature to cover the October-December quarter of 1996 and the whole of 1997.
The “Marketing Action Plan 1997” should be carried out at the same time that an immediate action plan for Germany is prepared, in the shortest time possible, so that there is a complete document that includes all institutional promotional activities and a budget for the last quarter of 1996 and the whole of 1997. This proposal should be discussed with the authorities.
To these ends, we set four levels of priority: Level I: Germany and Canada; Level II: Britain, Italy, Spain and France; Level III: South America, Level IV: Russia and other European countries. This plan should consider the city of Santo Domingo as a special case, and suggest ways to develop the markets in Puerto Rico, the Eastern Seaboard of the United States and other specific action to improve the position of Santo Domingo as a tourist destination.
We hope that with this statement, which is an official expression of our thinking and the aims of our institution, it may serve to encourage joint action between the public and private sectors and then, together, we can pursue courses of action directed to the strengthening of the tourist sector and the vitality of the economy, as is the purpose of the important decrees issued by the President of the Republic. We cannot conclude without thanking Minister of Tourism, Frank Jorge Elías and the authorities that have facilitated the communicative interaction between the public and the private sectors, especially the aviation advisor to the President, Jose Luis Abraham.