The Inter-American Development Bank recently approved a US$30 million loan for improvements in the Colonial City that will be implemented by the Ministry of Tourism. The Colonial City Tourism Development Program seeks to recover and restore public spaces within the first European city in the Americas.
The Ministry of Tourism will implement a new program for the enhancement of the Colonial City as a major draw for tourists in the Dominican Republic. Santo Domingo nevertheless only receives 15% of the tourists who visit the Dominican Republic. A recent study also showed that only 13% of travelers who decide to visit the city stay one night, as most just come on a day tour.
Minister of Tourism Francisco Javier Garcia says this will change once the Autopista del Coral is completed later next year. The highway will put the city only two hours away from the beach and sun destination of Punta Cana where most tourists arrive for a week or two at the beach. Already, it is simple to combine a visit to many tourism destinations that are only two hours away, namely La Romana and Samana, with its new express toll roads.
The program also seeks to enhance the old city to incorporate new areas that through shopping and gastronomic and cultural experiences will become a new draw for more sophisticated European tourists who are more likely to spend and interact with the Dominican culture, rather than just sun and beach. Jorge Daries presented a study for the IDB recommending that the city needs to improve parking facilities, general upkeep, security and activities. Nevertheless, 79% of the tourists polled said they would return.
The IDB expects that with the development of the Colonial City, visits could increase from one million in 2010 to 1.6 million in 2020 and spending could go from US$91 million to US$191 million. Daries said that the developers also have to focus on the restoration of the adjacent Ozama River and the Malecon. He also called for reorganization of informal trade.
Minister of Tourism Javier Garcia said that the leading source markets for the DR continue to be the United States and Canada, with South America as the new emerging market. Tourism from Brazil is up 127%.