The Ministry of Tourism has revealed more details about the signing of a feasibility study for the construction of the Santo Domingo Convention Center with Messe Berlin, the company that manages the Messe Berlin, the 160,000-square meter Berlin travel show grounds. The Ministry of Tourism is optimistic that if the convention center comes to fruition, the number of hotel rooms in Santo Domingo could double. Tourism Minister Felix Jimenez signed the agreement with Raimund Hosch, president of Messe Berlin at the Berlin travel fair this year when the DR was Official Partner Country. Also attending were Luis Lopez, president of the National Hotel & Restaurants Association (Asonahores), Manuel Alejandro Grullon, president of the Banco Popular Dominicano, and Ricardo Hazoury, president of Aerodom, the operator of the main Santo Domingo international airport. Jimenez stressed that the center is especially important because Santo Domingo is the country’s leading business travel center. Members of the committee that will be assisting in the feasibility study are the City Government of Santo Domingo, the National Competitiveness Council, and the Ministry of Tourism. At the Ministry, Deputy Minister Magaly Toribio will be in charge. Others involved are Juan Bancalari, president of the Santo Domingo Chamber of Commerce, Lisandro Macarrulla, president of the National Business Council (Conep), the developers of the Sans Souci Port project and a selection of city hotels. The study, which will cost EUR119,000, will determine the best site for the convention center, its capacity, the type of businesses that should be incorporated in the final design, and other aspects. Jimenez believes the center would make it viable to construct three to four thousand new hotel rooms in Santo Domingo.
For starters, the promoters are looking at the construction of the center at the intersection of Independencia and Abraham Lincoln avenues, where the Hispaniola and Santo Domingo hotels are located, as well as the National Police’s Campamento Duarte and the Robert Reid Cabral children’s hospital. The promoters are looking at the possibility of building a new public hospital on the grounds of the Plaza de la Salud, where the children’s hospital would be relocated. The Hispaniola and Santo Domingo property owners have expressed their interest in taking part in the project. The promoters have discarded, for the time being, the use of the Feria Ganadera grounds for the convention center.
The feasibility study could be ready by May 2008, and an international tender would be called for the development of the Santo Domingo convention center. The idea is that the center would be operational by 2011, reports the Ministry of Tourism.