President Leonel Fernandez is expected to participate in two days of high-level sessions on competitiveness in the tourism sector this coming weekend in Punta Cana. The National Competitiveness Council has organized an International Forum for Tourism Competitiveness, in conjunction with the National Hotel & Restaurant Association and the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development. This is a closed-door event, which is not open to the press or the public, and is aimed at developing a National Tourism Competitiveness Strategy. The event brings together internationally recognized speakers and tourism experts and the conclusions are expected to form part of a national plan for the development of the competitiveness of tourism in the Dominican Republic. The event will take place 10-11 December at the Punta Cana Resort. This is the highest-level tourism event ever to take place in the DR and gathers world travel experts and a small group of movers and shakers from the tourism industry.
On 10 December, Tourism Minister Felix Jimenez will deliver the opening address, followed by Enrique de Marchena Kaluche, president of Asonahores and Andres van der Horst Alvarez, executive director of the National Competitiveness Council.
Discussions are to follow with Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, secretary general of the Caribbean Tourism Organization and a former director general of the Bahamas tourism ministry, scheduled to participate in a morning panel discussion on Trends and Realities in the Global Tourism Market, in the context of the Caribbean. Peter Yesawich, chairman of Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell (YPB&R), America’s leading travel marketing and advertising agency will follow with a presentation on trends in the USA market. Next, Augusto Huescar, head of market intelligence and promotion at the United Nations World Tourism Organization, will speak on trends in the European market.
An afternoon panel will focus on best practice models. Scheduled speakers are Matt McNulty, an Irish former minister of tourism who will comment on the Irish model, where pacts between the public and private sector have been successful; Ruben Dario Rodriguez, advisor to the Mexican Ministry of Infrastructure, Communication and Transport who will speak about public policies and the Mexican case; and German Porras, former Spanish tourism minister who will address public policies and the Spanish case.
In the afternoon a final session will be held with the participation of Simon Suarez, vice president of Coral Hotels & Resorts (Coral by Hilton brand) in the Dominican Republic and former chairman of the Caribbean Hotel Association, Gabriel Escarrer, chairman of Sol Melia Hotels and Alec Sanguinetti, director general and CEO of the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA). Frederic Emam Zade, director general of the Fundacion Global Democracia y Desarrollo will provide the closing speech.
On the second day, Tourism Minister Felix Jimenez will speak about the role of the public sector in tourism development; Enrique de Marchena will address tourism as the motorizing Dominican economy and generator of wealth. Moises Pineda, Inter-American Development Bank representative in the Dominican Republic (the IDB is the main sponsor of the National Competitiveness Council program), Abel Matutes, Spanish former minister of foreign affairs and chairman of Fiesta hotels, and Rafael Blanco Canto, vice president Wyndham Viva Resorts will be the commentators. Next follows a talk by Rene Villareal, a world competitiveness expert from Mexico, who will address Systemic Competitiveness and Tourism. Andres van der Horst Alvarez will sum up the conclusions by 11:30 am and President Leonel Fernandez himself is set to deliver the closing address at noon.
For information on the organizers, the National Competitiveness Council, see http://www.cnc.gov.do/