Tourism Numbers End in the Black for 2009

The Dominican Republic closed out 2009 in the black with an increase in international visitors of around 1 percent and with 53 new investment projects approved by the Tourism Promotion Council (CONFOTUR) for an amount of over $12 billion US dollars.

The information was released by Tourism Minister Francisco Javier García Fernández at a press conference at the 30th international tourism fair FITUR 2010 in Madrid, Spain.

The Tourism Minister said “to end the year with approximately one percent increase in international visitors places the Dominican Republic as the most solid destination in terms of tourism reception in the Caribbean region and probably the only one to have been able to achieve positive results at the close of 2009.” This information was disseminated by the Press Office of the Tourism Ministry (SECTUR).

García Fernández explained that this percentage is equivalent to some 50,000 tourists as compared to 2008 and that this success is due to the diversity offered by the DR. But, above all, he noted that the deferential treatment given foreign visitors by Dominican citizens has the most positive impact.

He added that in 2009, the Dominican destination closed the year with the approval of 53 new investment projects in various tourism zones around the country. These projects are equal to $12 billion US dollars.

García Fernández added that CONFOTUR, for this year, has a large number of projects in the works that are being financed by foreign investors and will, in fact, amount to more than last year’s investments.

“This year, 2010, is expected to be a fruitful period for the development of tourism in the Dominican Republic and we are working everyday to improve our country as a destination, always hand-in-hand with the private sector represented by the National Association of Hotels and Restaurants (ASONAHORES in Spanish) because in our country there is just one tourism sector, made up of businesspeople and the government,” he said.

“The year 2010 has been named by President Leonel Fernández as the year to reactive the economy, and, to that end we will continue working as if we were still in a crisis, to obtain better results at the end of this period,” added the Minister.

At the press conference in which the Minster was accompanied by Haydee Kuret de Rainieri, President of ASONAHORES and Paola Dimitri, Director of the Dominican Tourism Promotion Office (OPT) for Spain and Portugal, the Minister added that “we will continue working to turn ourselves into the main tourism site for the Caribbean and Latin America.”

““Our neighboring competitors will also be present; there will be not only an exhibition of different destinations but also personalized, one-on-one meetings…”

Cruise Ship Tourism

García Fernández added that 2009 ended with an increase of about 20 percent in tourism arrivals on cruise ships. In 2008, some 506,000 people landed in the DR from cruise ships.

He stressed that one element that clearly made the DR a favored destination is that last year it was selected as the 2010 site for the Seventeenth Annual Cruise Conference and Trade Show of the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA), one of the most important cruise ship events in the Caribbean region.

He said the FCCA event, to take place October 25-29, 2010, will be held in Santo Domingo where they are expecting some 2,000 cruise line professionals including presidents of the main lines that send passengers to the Caribbean region.

“Our neighboring competitors will also be present; there will be not only an exhibition of different destinations but also personalized, one-on-one meetings between individuals and those who plan each seasons’ cruises,” he said.

The Dominican Republic, he pointed out, has 12 ports with the capacity to receive cruise ships, representing a serious competitive edge for the DR as a destination.

García Fernández is in the Madrid, Spain at the head of an official Dominican delegation participating in the annual tourism fair, FITUR 1020, which began on Wednesday and ends on Sunday January 24th. The fair was held in Madrid’s IFEMA Convention Center and hosted more than 12,000 international exhibitors from 170 countries, over 136,000 visitors including tourism professionals and more than 8,000 international reporters from around the world.

Throughout the exhibition of the world’s tourism attractions, there was a lot of activity in the Dominican pavilion with members of the National Association of Hotels and Restaurants (ASONAHORES), the VIK Hotel Group, Oasis Hotels & Resorts, Viva Wyndham Resort, Hola Tours, Casa de Campo, Fiesta Hotel Group, Intercontinental V Centenary, Holiday Inn Santo Domingo, BTC, Banco Popular and the Cisneros Foundation.

Tourism Minister Francisco Javier García giving the official Dominican press conference at Fitur 1020 in Madrid, Spain. Accompanying him are Haydee Kuret de Rainieri and Paola Dimitri