The local market also discovered new ways to do tourism during this reopening process, stimulating vacation rentals
Taken from El Día
Santo Domingo. - An internal initiative is driving the recovery of the country's tourism activities through visits to different tourist destinations and the promotion of the Dominican Republic to international markets.
The task began with the gradual reopening of activities linked to this sector; Dominicans explored various ways of doing tourism, from camping, ecotourism, sun and beach tourism, with hotel reservations as well as vacation rentals.
Its share of total hotel business tripled, going from 5% to 20%, demonstrating the ability of hotel infrastructure and service managers to implement safety protocols in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
This made it easier for the hotel sector to start offering accommodations to foreigners and non-resident Dominicans, which allowed them to accommodate a large part of the 2.9 million tourists who have entered the country this year.
Initiatives ,
there are public-private partnership initiatives in which the business sector, the Ministry of Tourism and the National Bank collaborate, which also project the safety of Dominican tourism at the international level.
The results have been remarkable; hotel occupancy rose from 17.7 percent to 64.6 percent by August, and future projections are even more ambitious, aiming to close the year with approximately 4.8 million tourists.
Holiday tourism
The local market also discovered new ways of doing tourism during this reopening process, stimulating holiday rentals.
Joel Santos, tourism advisor to the Executive Branch, pointed out that the promotion of tourist destinations on social media by Dominicans helped foreigners to see that the country was offering hotel services and applying safety protocols.
“That population also provided financial assistance to help many properties, not just hotels and tourist establishments, weather the difficult times,” Santos told EL DÍA.
He indicated that this experience gives hoteliers the opportunity to rethink their marketing policy by offering special facilities to nationals during all seasons so that they can get to know their country and enjoy the hotel facilities.
For his part, Rafael Blanco Tejada, president of the National Association of Hotels and Tourism, added that the Dominican banking promotion and financing program and the safe tourism plan also represented support for the country to move towards a clear recovery, as it offered facilities for both locals and foreigners.
He cited as an example that all areas of the country are being visited by locals and this is reflected in the 69% occupancy rate on weekends.
“Traditionally, domestic tourism represented around 5% of the total business of the country's hotels, and as a result of the domestic tourism plan supported by the public and private sectors and the national banking system, more than 20% of the hotel business is now domestic tourism,” he told El DÍA.
He indicated that Asonahores values and understands that it was there during the most critical moments for the industry, so that sector is in a position to continue promoting that tourism.
Resources.
$420 million.
That's the amount of foreign currency generated by various tourism activities.
Seguros Reservas guaranteed safety
. Another initiative that projected the country's safety to international markets was the implementation of the Safe Tourism Assistance Plan RD, which was in effect from September 15, 2020 to July 31, 2021.
The company provided assistance to more than 400,000 tourists, Seguros Reservas told EL DÍA.
This initiative was implemented to ensure a sustainable recovery for the sector by prioritizing the care, well-being, and safety of all foreign tourists who visited the Dominican Republic during the COVID-19 health emergency, the company explained.
The coverages offered include personalized assistance, medical expenses related to Covid-19, medical assistance in emergency cases, emergency medical transport, and other benefits.
