The Dominican Republic is currently receiving just half of the revenues per hotel room that it did 12 years ago, while total spending per tourist has also declined. These findings are part of the Sustainable Tourism and Human Development Report contracted by the United Nations as part of the 2005 Human Development Report on the Dominican Republic. Economist Jaime Moreno presented the results at a conference in Puerto Plata over the weekend.
Moreno, who is the coordinator of the Center for Environmental Studies of the Global Foundation for Development and Democracy, highlighted that today’s net yield on a hotel room is US$150, while in 1982 the net gain per hotel room was US$318. Moreover, he explained that the average tourist spent US$104 per day in 1982, while that amount in 2004 has dropped to US$87.
Moreno believes the country should be incorporating new models of tourism so that there may be a greater trickle-down effect of the tourist dollar to benefit the communities and thus make tourism sustainable. “We need to convert the all-inclusive tourism model into a community-inclusive tourism model,” he said. The mass tourism model that demands large hotel properties, he continued to say, entails a major toll taken on the leading asset of the tourism industry ? the beaches. Moreno explained that coral reefs are at risk due to pollution caused by inadequately managed waste. He said the country could lose the beaches as we know them in 20 years if conservation actions are not taken today.
Economist Miguel Ceara-Hatton, the coordinator of the Human Development Report for the United Nations Development Program office in Santo Domingo, also spoke at the event, highlighting that human development indicators reveal that Dominican Republic has little to show for the remarkable growth experienced over the past 20 years. He hoped the DR would realize the urgent need for major structural changes.
The executive vice-president of the National Hotel & Restaurant Association, Arturo Villanueva, told El Caribe newspaper that he agrees with the statements made by Moreno and Ceara-Hatton, and favors the diversification of the Dominican tourism product. Tourism entrepreneur Marino Ginebra also concurred with that sentiment.
“We are trapped in a vicious circle. We cannot improve the quality because we do not have the adequate means, and we do not have adequate means because, despite contributing 25% of the Gross Domestic Product, the state does not even invest 10% in the necessary infrastructure to improve the sector. The model does not work because the funds the industry generates go to political patronage,” said Ginebra, as reported in El Caribe.
The UN Human Development Report will be officially released early next year.