Million Dollar Tourism Investment Announced for Barahona
Minister of Tourism, Francisco Javier García, announced the construction of the María Montez Coastal Park, a cable railway that will connect the urban parts of the city area with the mountainous areas. They will also build a port that will service both cargo and cruise ships, all with a “strong sustainability element that will convert this area into the fourth largest tourist pole in the Dominican Republic.”
In addition, it was announced that the remodeling of Barahona’s port will also include outfitting it to receive cargo and cruise ships.
Francisco Javier García said the María Montez Coastal Park, which will involve the complete remodeling of the city’s ocean side promenade or malecon, is being carried out with a RD$120 million investment from the Ministry of Tourism (SECTUR). It is also expected to attract foreign as well as domestic tourism to enjoy this public space with its ocean views and beaches, according the a press release from SECTUR’s Press and Communications Office.
“Barahona cannot continue to have their malecon in the condition it is in right now. We made an evaluation of it, a complete assessment of what we will call the María Montez Coastal Park. In the assessment one of things that we decided was that the most important thing for the city of Barahona was to create high quality public space that will allow locals as well as tourists to be able to, once again, have a view of the ocean, enjoy the landscape, make use of the city beaches, walk or ride a bike along the shore, play volleyball in the sand, have a space for parades, patron saint festivities, carnivals, among other outdoor activities,” said Tourism Minister García.
García Fernández explained that the evaluation and assessment of the boulevard determined that there should be a complete remodeling of the malecon in Barahona and that this would include the creation of a special pedestrian walkway along the ocean requiring a RD$120-million investment. The Tourism Minister was speaking at a ceremony in honor of the resumption of operations at the María Montez International Airport which, for the first year, will waive the payment of airport taxes on airplanes landing there.
Others present at the event included Andrés van der Horst, Director of the Department of Ports and Airports; the Chief of the Dominican Air Force, Major General Carlos Rafael M. Altuna Tezanos; Director of Dominican Airports XXI Century (Aerodom), Andrew
O’ Brian; Andrés van der Horst Álvarez, Director of the National Competitiveness Council (CNC in Spanish); as well as other civil authorities and lawmakers from Barahona, among others.
In addition, it was announced that the remodeling of Barahona’s port will also include outfitting it to receive cargo and cruise ships.
“Barahona needs other attractions and this attraction is the part that has to do with attracting cruise ships to this part of the country. Now with the study completed, it shows that this area is appropriate for both cargo and cruise ships from other areas and that it can handle the arrival of tourism; for that reason, we are in a hurry to immediately undertake the work on the malecon,” he indicated.
Another welcomed announcement made by García Fernández was the building of a cable railway that will connect the urban areas to the main mountainous zones in this province. He said SECTUR has already begun to receive proposals from technical specialists in Sweden, Colorado and Germany.
He explained that the cable railway of Barahona, to be one of the five largest in the world, will have various cable cars allowing for several trips to be going on simultaneously and, above all, it will make stops in the areas planned for real estate tourism development projects and places to stay with fabulous bay and ocean views.
García Fernández talked about Barahona’s numerous attractions but also pointed out that its tourism development will not cause it to compete with the rest of the country’s established tourism areas. This area boasts a variety of activities such as sun and surf, adventure, health tourism, mountain hiking areas, extreme sports, water sports including diving and snorkeling, agricultural tourism, places for those who love coffee, larimar stones, bird watching and scientific tourism, “which is to say, this part of the country is truly a gem waiting to be developed.”
“Barahona’s moment has arrived. The important thing is that all of the the people of Barahona take on this opportunity and responsibility and that the society adopts the attitude that they as a group are working towards the same goal, the same project which is to undertake this tourism development project,” said the Minister.
“I clearly see the decision of the people of Barahona is, without hesitation, to develop their province along with the entire Southern region,” continued the Tourism Minister, “There is a strong feeling of commitment and decision to go forward with this project. This is the day we take these decisive steps with with no room for hesitation; it is as if all of Barahona is closing ranks around this project.”
He said recently he was in Chicago, Illinois where he met with important tour operators who manifested their interest in seeing tourism development in the Southern region of the country. He added that they discussed the fact that this part of the DR contains many attractions that do not compete with other tourism areas around the country.
García Fernández also announced that the Ministry of Tourism will put Barahona on the forefront of international tourism promotion for the Dominican Republic in the United States. “We will do special promotion for Barahona for the company that works in Dominican tourism promotion in the United States.”
In terms of promotion, he pointed out that there is already a local ad campaign being broadcast that includes Barahona, Pedernales and Bahoruco with a return trip to Lake Enriquillo.
Francisco Javier García speaks with Andrés van der Horst
Civil and military authorities present at the re-opening ceremony of the María Montez International Airport
Tourism Minister Francisco Javier García outlining the details of the construction work to be undertaken in Barahona
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