Victor Pizarro, an international consultant on destination management, has called on the business sector to unite to propel Santo Domingo to achieve its full potential as a tourist destination. He also called for the need for politicians to have the vision and leadership capacity to achieve this. Speaking at a presentation on the Future of Santo Domingo presented by the Santo Domingo Tourism Cluster, he made the point that tourism promotion is not the key to the successful positioning of a city as a tourist destination. He said that the main thing is to have a relevant promise, proactive businesspeople and politicians with vision.
In his opinion, Santo Domingo is weak in the promise it offers visitors. He said the city needed to be given a clearer identity, to organize what it offers, and that this would be achieved through efforts by proactive businesspeople and politicians with vision.
Pizarro suggested that the Santo Domingo Tourism Cluster should evolve into the city’s Visitors & Convention Bureau, a mixed government and private organization, where decisions would be centralized.
Pizarro said there is a need for more statistics on the city itself, information that he said is needed for investors to make decisions about investment, marketing and even management of the destination.
In his opinion, Santo Domingo could take greater advantage of its strengths as a cultural destination. He pointed out that there are 8.8 million people in the US who study culture-related careers, who could visit the city.
“This is a time to empower the tourist,” he said, commenting on the reader-driven forums on the Internet that provide guidance to future visitors.
“Santo Domingo is the most complete representation of the Dominican Republic,” he said, encouraging government and businesspeople to work together.