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Tourists stroll through horse along the shore of the beach, today in Punta Cana (Dominican Republic). EFE
The Dominican tourism sector wants to be much more than sun and beach and expand beyond the sun and sand. from the iconic Punta Cana, that’s why it’s Betting on diversification, after being ahead of other destinations in the recovery of this sector after the pandemic.
Tourism is the main economic activity of the Republic. The Dominican Republic and, to shore up that position, its strategy is “the geographical diversification of the product and the product itself,” the president of the Association of Hotels and Tourism of the Dominican Republic (Asonahores), Rafael Blanco.
Not a beach without tourists
The area of Punta Cana, in the east of the country, is the mainstay of Dominican tourism – 60% of the travelers that the country receives arrive through its airport -, but the The Dominican government and hoteliers are investing to bring vacationers to beaches all along the coast.
Pedernales, a hitherto untouched area in the southwest, is the “anchor project” of tourismDominican Republic, with an estimated investment of 3,000 million dollars in the next decade.
Work has also begun on new hotels in Miches >, near Punta Cana, while steps are being taken to relaunch Puerto Plata (north), the original cradle of tourism in the country, and investments are made in Samaná. (northeast) with a model based on small establishments.
The philosophy is “totally ecological and sustainable“, so that “mistakes of the past” In environmental matters, he indicated the person in charge of Asonahores.
Beyond that;
Beyond the sun
of geographic diversification, the Dominican Republic is taking steps to grow in other segments, such as conferences and health, which generate much higher income per tourist than sun and beach, a segment in which 94.6% of the market is concentrated.
To explore the conference segment, in which there is ample room for growth, the Dominican State has just made an alliance with Ifema, Spain’s leading operator of fairs and congresses, who is preparing a study to design the strategy for events and conventions in Santo Domingo, explained White.
In addition, it has already structured the Convention Bureau, an entity that is going to promote Santo Domingo internationally as the center of the business segment.
With all these fronts open, “the growth limit is we’re going to put it on ourselves,” he said. White.
Health tourism
The diversification strategy also points to health tourism, which generated Revenues of 265 million dollars in the country in 2018, according to the latest study on this segment.
That study, by the Dominican Association of Health Tourism, reveals that each patient spends about 7,500 dollars on average, a figure much higher than the nearly 985 dollars spent on average every foreign tourist.
To promote health tourism, last December President Luis Abinader entrusted to the Ministries of Public Health and Tourism to work on the elaboration of policies and strategies for their development and to carry out a survey of the available medical centers.
The Vice Minister of Tourism, Jacqueline Mora, said on Wednesday that the country’s authorities have begun contacts with rating companies, with the aim of obtaining the necessary international certifications, which the country now lacks.
“Initially, it will be oral health and also the wellness part(well-being), which is This is within health tourism and where we can go much faster,” said the deputy minister.
Currently, the country’s clinics receive mainly tourists from the Dominican diaspora and Latinas “who don’t have the capacity to go to the United States and come to the Dominican Republic,” he pointed out. the director of Asonahores.
But now, the country wants to “raise the level” of the country. so that Americans, Europeans and citizens of other countries in the region come for medical treatment.
Health tourism, in addition to generating more The income from the nearly 6 million annual sun and beach tourists that the country receives would also have strategic importance.
“Because it increases the The country’s health capacity in general and that projects it as a safe place that has the capacity to attend to any situation,” adds Blanco.