The Dominican tourism industry celebrated its consolidation and leadership position during the opening of the Dominican Annual Travel Exchange industry booking event yesterday, Tuesday 19 April 2016. In his opening address, the president of the National Hotel & Tourism Association, Simon Suarez highlighted that the country is making the most of opportunities of the global tourism expansion period. He said that growth rates in the DR doubled the world average. In 2014, the DR grew 9%, in 2015 5% and in the first quarter of this year growth has been 8%.
Suarez also attributed the Dominican success to the close partnership between the private sector and the government. He pointed out that the government has provided tax incentives and has made massive investments in road construction and improvement projects. The private sector has responded with major investment in the renovation and construction of new hotel rooms, and complementary tourism businesses. He added that no other Caribbean destination has shown the same growth as the Dominican Republic.
Also speaking at the event, Tourism Minister Francisco Javier Garcia stressed how the DR has become a major global tourism player, overtaking all other countries in the Caribbean, Central America and South America in terms of foreign exchange generation. He described the Dominican tourism model as a success story, mentioning that many of his counterparts have asked him about the experience. He attributed the success to the country, the people, maturity of politicians, and the alliance between the public and private sectors. In his address to DATE, Garcia called for preserving the goose that laid the golden egg. He said the time has come to implement a strategic plan into the next 20 years to protect the current achievements.
