Speaking in Paris, the executive director of the Dominican-French Chamber of Commerce, Henry Hebrard, said that the Dominican Republic needed to begin to design new products for tourists in order to attract tourists seeking something other than sun and sand.
Hoy newspaper reports economist Hebrard as saying that tourists will spend more money in the country if they can get them out of the hotel, and this is why new products are needed to offer to visitors, along with better infrastructure and improved safety.
Hebrard mentioned several ideas, including tours of historical areas as well as gastronomic expeditions. He pointed out that the Dominican Republic has more golf courses that all of the rest of the Caribbean combined, but this aspect has not been sufficiently promoted in France. He also mentioned artistic and artisan areas that could be exploited. Finally he cited the Sugar Trail in Barahona, the Ginger Trail in Las Galeras, commenting that several great French chefs have visited the Ginger Trail.
France is the European country that sends the largest number of tourists to the Dominican Republic, exceeding Germany, England and Spain by a wide margin. However, the latest figures on tourist traffic to the Dominican Republic indicate that the numbers of European tourists had gone down. Hebrard said that there were all kinds of reasons for this, but he did mention that the DR needed to make its visitors feel safe above all other issues.