New Tourism Strategy Oriented Toward US Hispanic Market and Potential Investors

The Dominican Republic will capitalize on its close proximity to the United States and the economic crisis gripping that nation. Dominican Tourism Minister Francisco Javier García announced the adoption of innovative strategies oriented toward the US Hispanic niche.

“We are now going to target a section of the United States public that we haven’t worked with much in that past and which is one of the most important ethnic groups in that it shares the same identity as our own,”

As such the Minister announced that he will meet on Thursday evening with the Council for Tourism Promotion (Confotur) with the idea of hearing about and approving important investment projects which, all together, total in excess of $3.4 billion dollars in the tourism areas of Altagracia, La Romana, Juan Dolio, Samaná and Puerto Plata.

“We are now going to target a section of the United States public that we haven’t worked with much in that past and which is one of the most important ethnic groups in that it shares the same identity as our own,” explained the Minister to the morning newspaper Hoy Mismo in an interview with César Medina, Miguel Franjul and Oscar Medina.

García pointed out that currently Hispanics in the US represent 14% of the total population, “which means there are 42 million Hispanics with whom we should be working,” as a segment of the market.

The DR currently captures approximately 4% of the 27 million Americans who travel, but, “of this number, 39.5% travel from New York and of those we attract 16%” he said, adding that 11% of those who travel from Miami.

“The moment has arrived,” for all sectors linked to this vital economic sector, “to promote and invest in tourism within the framework of the Strategic Tourism Promotion Plan of the Dominican Republic.”

García added that in order to guarantee sustainable growth from this sector, it is essential to diversity tourism offerings and to make “specific investments in the infrastructure of the tourism zones such as Juan Dolio, Punta Cana, Bávaro and Samaná-Las Terrenas and to maintain continuity in the construction work already underway in Puerto Plata and other regions.

He affirmed that despite the crisis in the international market, mainly in the area of fuel, tourism continues to grow and consolidate.

“The moment has arrived,” for all sectors linked to this vital economic sector, “to promote and invest in tourism within the framework of the Strategic Tourism Promotion Plan of the Dominican Republic.”

He announced that, along these lines, important investment projects totaling more than $3.4 billion dollars will be announced on Thursday, to be approved in a meeting with the Council for Tourism Promotion (Confotur).

These investments are mostly in foreign capital and imply an additional 14,000 hotel rooms and the generation of some 15,000 new jobs.

These new projects will be undertaken in La Altagracia, La Romana, Juan Dolio, Samaná and Puerto Plata.

Another demonstration of the local tourism boom is that American Airlines is reestablishing flights from the United States that had been suspended.

“In France, we’ve managed to incorporate new flights from Paris to the Dominican Republic. In Russian, we’ve gone from 2 flights per week to 4 beginning in November then up to 5 in December and by March there will be 6 weekly flights, one of which will fly directly to Puerto Plata for the first time,” he said referring to his recent visits to those countries.

He stressed the significant increase in tourism from large markets such as France, Spain, England, Germany and Italy as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States, “which means that our growth perspectives are satisfying.”

He cited Russia, an emerging market from where 84% more tourists, as compared to last year, visited the DR. He mentioned Chile and Argentina as countries where visitors to the DR grew by 44% and 33% respectively.