Tourism expert Juan Llado recently released, “Challenges of the Tourism Sector” Volume II, the collection of 220 thought-provoking articles he has written from October 2011 through February 2022. It is a follow up of Volume I that collected articles from November 2008 to October 2011.
Lladó is a former deputy minister of tourism in 1980, when the boom of the tourism industry was yet to begin. He is probably the most consistent writer on the tourism industry. Most of the articles appeared in Diario Libre and Acento. He served as Deputy Minister of Tourism in 1988 and since then has closely followed the sector as it evolved to become the leading tourism destination in the Caribbean, and a global tourism power.
He is the lead consultant for Llado Global Consulting. He is a graduate in planning and administration from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
The book is obligatory reading for those who seek in depth information on the sector. Lladó has taken his articles and organized them into eight topics. He shares online links and sources of his background information. The topics are:
Pandemic/Recovery
Institutions, Norms, Leadership
Promotion/Marketing
Markets/Advances
Regions/Destinations/Environment
Politics/Planning
The Product
The Hotel Industry/Digital Transformation
During the presentation, Llado called for a strategy of specialization of the destination, focusing on strengths and attractions of each to continue the expansion. He says authorities need to work to improve the tourism product, and with this the country will be in a better position to compete on the global scale. He says there needs to be more diversification, and a focus on quality and sustainability.
The book is for sale at Centro Cuesta Libros. The author can be contacted at j.llado@claro.net.do