Former long-time marketing guru of the Dominican Republic, now retired Magaly Toribio has published a first book on Strategies of Tourism Marketing, sharing what she learned during her long career as director of marketing at the Ministry of Tourism. She presents the Dominican Republic’s marketing case over the years, sharing insights into promotion, advertising, public relations strategies, and drafting marketing plans.
Simon Suarez, former president of the Caribbean Hotel Association and the National Hotel and Tourism Association (Asonahores), highlights in the prologue that this is the first textbook that tells about tourism marketing from a Dominican angle.
For years the Dominican Republic has been the Caribbean and Central American tourism leader, and in incoming travelers is second only to Mexico in Latin America. The new book on the Dominican strategies over the years is key to those studying tourism and wanting to learn more about how the DR went from being a practically unknown tourism destination in the 80s to its present leadership status.
Toribio looks into the evolution of Dominican tourism from a long-haul destination catering primarily to 14-day stays by European tourists from 1990 to 2002 to a short term (4 to 7 nights) destination preferred by the United States and South American travelers from 2003 to 2023.
She attributes the success of the Dominican destination to the great variety of source markets and the adaptability of the Dominican tourism industry.
“To constantly reinvent ourselves and differentiate ourselves from the other islands of the Caribbean has always been the great challenge,” she writes, observing this meant many times ignoring the taboos and dogma of tourism experts. She explains that it was not until 2005 that the promotional message of the country was unified.
She gives credit to the initiative of the National Tourism and Hotel Association to create the Dominican Annual Travel Exchange (DATE) in 2000 that has become the leading event for booking Dominican vacations.
She writes about how the Dominican Republic competes, the impact of tourism on the economy, air and sea travel, and the incidence of the country brand. She tells about the world-acclaimed Dominican strategy to recover from Covid-19.
The book is available for sale at Cuesta Libros at Av. 27 de Febrero in Santo Domingo for RD$1,800.
For book orders, visit Target at Av. Sarasota #39, Torre Empresarial Sarasota Center, Suite 401, Bella Vista, Santo Domingo, or call Tel 809 532-2006 or email m.toribio@claro.net.do
In 2025, the book will be available for sale on Amazon.