Four top hoteliers discussed the travel drop caused by recent negative media coverage, as reported by Travel Market Report. They were part of a panel during the Apple Leisure Group and its Apple Vacations division annual awards gala held in Chicago, USA.
Abel Matutes Prats, CEO of Palladium Hotel Group; Alex Zozaya, executive chairman of ALG; Gonzalo del Peón, president of AMResorts; and José Codola of Valentin Hotel Group were on the panel that discussed the communications crisis that lead to major cancellations of US tourists to the Dominican Republic.
“We are in the era that … there’s more rush to be the first one to take on some news than really doing a background check of the real news to see if it’s something worth doing,” Matutes Prats said. “It’s so frustrating for everyone,” Del Peon said. “It’s creating huge damage to a destination, to its communities, and staff members.”
The panel members explained that the news had mainly impacted business from the United States, with a smaller impact on travel from Canada. They explained European business continues strong. They said the impact of the media demonstrates how powerful a bad story in the US media can be for tourism, not just in the Dominican Republic, but in other regions as well.
The hoteliers and resort owners say they are still waiting for the toxicology results from the US FBI for two of the deaths that caused some of the more sensationalized consumer media headlines. Meanwhile, the Dominican government hired the US public relations firm, Rubenstein PR to help the recovery effort.
“It’s not going to be that easy to put the image of the brand of the DR to the place it was and also the news of the toxicology report being normal. That’s also going to be something that’s not going to be in the headlines for a bunch of days. As soon as they do that, they have to try and do a big campaign to reinforce the many strengths of the Dominican Republic,” Matutes Prats said.
The members of the panel said they are confident the business to the Dominican Republic would return. “We have seen cases like this before,” del Peón said, noting that the Riviera Maya came back after its hiccups. “When you have a good product at the right price in a beautiful location and the right promotion … at the end of the day, the market is going to come back … it’s not the first time, it won’t be the last.”
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Travel Market Report
Travel Market Report
17 September 2019