Speaking to tourism industry leaders, hoteliers and suppliers, the president of the National Hotels & Tourism Association (Asonahores) Joel Santos opened the DATE tourism conference on Wednesday, 3 May 2017 in Punta Cana highlighting how good value is driving the continued growth of the Dominican tourism industry.
The event is organized by the National Hotels & Tourism Association (Asonahores) with the backing of the Ministry of Tourism. Tourism Minister Francisco Javier García also had welcoming words for the around international and local 830 delegates attending the 18th version of DATE, representing suppliers and buyers interested in the Dominican market, the leader in the Caribbean.
In the keynote address at the opening, Santos highlighted how the Dominican Republic is a global leader in tourism, ranked in the top 50 tourism countries of the world. He observed that the only other Latin American countries in the top 50 ranking are Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. Santos remarked that in 2016, the DR was second in Latin America only to Mexico in hard currency tourism receipts. Last year the sector generated revenues for US$700 million. Furthermore, Santos mentioned the US$598 million in foreign direct investment generated by the tourism industry in 2016.
He commented on how the growth of the Dominican tourism industry, with air arrivals increasing 6.4% in 2016, was way above the 3.9% regional and 4.8% Caribbean averages. He stated that in the past 26 years, the average global growth for the global tourism industry is at 4.5%, compared to the 16.7% of the Dominican Republic.
In his opening speech at the Barceló Bavaro Palace, Santos spoke of the 5,175 new hotel rooms added for a total of 75,000 hotel rooms in the Dominican Republic. More so, he said occupancy has increased from 75% to 78%, 11% more than the Caribbean average and 13% more than the global average occupancy rate.
Santos attributed the successes of the Dominican tourism product to the excellent good value ratio and reputation the country has achieved. “The international delegates will be able to see for themselves we are offering a booming tourism industry and will be able to meet with highly professional suppliers that represent the unsurpassable product in quality/price the country is offering,” he said in his closing remarks.
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Listin Diario
4 May 2017
