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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
“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. <\/p>\n
“Santo Domingo is the most complete representation of the Dominican Republic,” he said, encouraging government and businesspeople to work together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 … <\/p>\n