SANTO DOMINGO– Luis Abinader, the Dominican president, announced the construction of a technical university specializing in tourism, an educational space that could evolve towards offering master's degrees and help consolidate tourism in the country.
The president made the announcement after a meeting with Zurab Pololiskashvili, secretary-general of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
Pololiskashvili explained that the next two or three years will focus on sustainable development, education, and investment, with activities to attract more investors.
Another point discussed was the official UNWTO meeting that will be held in Punta Cana in May.
Present were the Minister of the Presidency, Joel Santos, and the Administrative Minister of the Presidency, José Ignacio Paliza.
Tourism and recession
The effects on Dominican tourism of a possible recession in Europe and the United States will depend on different factors, which President Abinader also analyzed.
The president understands that it would be necessary to study the percentage of those economies affected and the type of crisis they experience.
For example, he noted that the economic crisis in the United States has resulted in full employment. “So, if you have full employment, it means there is demand that will continue to be sustained, and our projections through March are very solid,” he said.
The president believes the crisis “could affect us at another time.” “But the projections we have so far through March are very solid.”.
Abinader indicated that the government remains very attentive and would take twofold action in terms of advertising to mitigate any economic slowdown.
Luxury October
Tourism Minister David Collado predicted that October will surpass the same month in 2019 and 2018 by more than 80,000 or 100,000 foreign visitors to the country.
They are averaging having "the best October in history", with at least 450,000 foreigners.
“Our projections (for the end of the year) are that for the first time in history the Dominican Republic will surpass 7 million tourists, ending at 7.2 million,” Collado estimated.
The peak year was 2018, when 6.5 million tourists visited. This was despite a decrease of 50,000 Russian visitors and 9,000 Ukrainian visitors per month.
Open skies
President Luis Abinader said today that "in the coming weeks we could already think about signing the open skies agreement" with the United States, after months of negotiations.
“This agreement is very important because it will bring greater competitiveness to that sector, which needs it, and greater quality,” the governor said.
He added that "this is accompanied by some incentives that the government is providing to encourage new companies to establish themselves," which "would also mean lower airfare prices to the United States.".
Text modified with publication made by Diario Libre.
