President Danilo Medina opened the 33rd National Hotel & Tourism Association (Asonahores) Trade Show in Punta Cana on 11 September 2019. Participating in the opening were Environment Minister Angel Estevez; Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez; Archbishop for La Altagracia province Nicanor Peña Rodríguez. Paola Rainieri and Andrés Marranzini gave the opening speeches at the event that is held at the Blue Mall Puntacana in the Puntacana Village.
“This growth and development have not been casual or improvised. Our tourist industry has worked for more than 50 years continuously without rest and overcoming obstacles, to achieve the fastest and most impacting change in the economic history of our country,” said Rainieri.
“We open our trade exhibition at a time when our industry has suffered from international battering. If we have achieved the success and the leadership as a result of our efforts, to stay at the top requires greater effort and dedication. We want to maintain what we have done well, to correct the errors that have been committed and remember there cannot be zones of comfort to stay ahead in tourism,” said the president of Asonahores.
She highlighted that most tourists say they will return because of the hospitality and warmth of the people. Furthermore, she said the quality of the hotels, the food, beaches, entertainment, theme parks and airport installations had received good reviews from visitors. She said in recent years, the quality of the highways and communication systems have also ranked well. She said in 2018, net earnings of the global tourism industry reached US$43 billion, of which the Dominican Republic received 14% of the total and 24% in the Caribbean region.
Andrés Marranzini, executive director of Asonahores, said the tradeshow this year in Punta Cana is the largest held in the Dominican Republic.
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El Nuevo Diario
12 September 2019