Frank Rainieri is recognized as a prophet, forerunner, precursor, and tourism genius. He began bringing tourists to Punta Cana more than 50 years ago and has never looked back. His airport, Punta Cana International (PUJ), is the busiest in the Caribbean, and the tourist destination he created at Punta Cana grows every year. Last week he said that the tourism industry in the Dominican Republic is under “an unstoppable process” and that it will not be long before all of the country becomes a tourism destination. He set the bar at 17 million tourists by the year 2035.
As the keynote speaker at the breakfast conference hosted by the Metropolitan Archbishop of Santo Domingo, Francisco Ozoria, Rainieri pointed out that such an achievement would require vision, work and the support of the many different sectors of the nation. He spoke of the very slow start in the 1970s, when there was not even a government department dedicated to tourism. But said that once tourism got going, there has been no stopping to the growth process.
He then went on to cite historian Frank Moya Pons, who noted that “tourism has become the main generator of hard currencies and one of the most powerful factors for change the country (DR) has had in its history.”
Tourism is so important that today, the area of Veron-Punta Cana has experienced double-digit growth, offers nearly 50,000 hotel rooms, generates between 14% and 16% of the nation’s GDP, and provides 93,000 direct jobs and 323,000 indirect jobs.
In his forecast that the entire Dominican Republic is on the way to becoming a tourist destination, Rainieri noted that while the area of Punta Cana and La Romana are well-known tourist destinations, there are major developments to the north in Puerto Plata that has two cruise line ports, and a new project in Bergantin and Cabarete continues to grow. Also on the north coast, Samana will soon have two cruise line ports (Arroyo Barril and the city of Samana), and the area around Las Terrenas is increasing the number of available rooms almost daily.
Rainieri ended his talk by projecting the future for Pedernales and cities in the interior such as Santiago, Jarabacoa, and Constanza as very bright. He also spoke of the strong developments for tourism in Santo Domingo, as a cultural and entertainment great tourist destination.
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Diario Libre
26 March 2024