Minister of Tourism Francisco Javier Garcia has announced the creation of a committee to help develop a national strategy to focus on senior travel market segments. Late last year he met with Angela Jones, senior vice president and Helen Baptist, director of corporate relationships for the American Association of Retired Persons Services Inc in Santo Domingo to discuss possible alliances.
During her visit Helen Baptist made the point that every year over 83 million US citizens over the age of 50 travel abroad and spend over US$2 trillion. She said the association has more than 36 million members and predicted that membership would be at 118 million by 2020. She said that close by destinations such as the Dominican Republic are of interest to the membership, but need special treatment.
“What is important about this market niche is that normally they do not travel alone. They usually travel as couples or in the company of their children, with a high level of spending and longer stays. That is why we want to focus on their market,” said Minister of Tourism Francisco Javier Garcia, as reported in El Caribe. He announced the creation of a committee to work on what the Dominican Republic can provide to this market segment.
AARP Services, Inc., founded in 1999, is a wholly-owned taxable subsidiary of AARP. AARP Services manages the provider relationships for and performs quality control oversight of the wide range of products and services that carry the AARP name and are made available by independent providers as benefits to AARP’s millions of members.
AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with a membership that helps people over the age of 50 to have independence, choice and control in ways that are beneficial and affordable to them and society as a whole. For more information, write to hbaptist@aarp.com