SANTO DOMINGO.– The Popular Tourism Business team has identified approximately 14 financing prospects linked to the development of the hotel sector in 2023, which are currently under negotiation and are expected to be developed over the next three years.
The projects, with over US$640 million in financing, will add approximately 3,900 rooms to the current inventory once completed. An additional US$165 million has been approved and is pending disbursement, which will result in another 2,200 hotel rooms.
The bank released the information as part of the Dominican delegation that traveled to Madrid to participate in the 43rd edition of Fitur, the International Tourism Fair, and also reported that its loan portfolio to the tourism sector ended 2022 with a balance of US$1.011 billion.
“This loan portfolio of Banco Popular already represented, as of November 2022, 44.5% of the financing granted as a whole by the national financial sector to tourism, thus underscoring the role of the banking entity as the largest historical financier of this industry,” the financial entity indicated through a press release.
In the document, Popular explained that Popular Bank, a subsidiary of Grupo Popular with an international license operating from Panama, closed its 2022 loan portfolio with a balance of US$193 million.
There is interest in different areas
The CEO of Banco Popular Dominicano (BPD), Christopher Paniagua, stated that he is seeing increased interest in different areas of the country, regardless of the fact that "the anchor of tourism for many years has been Punta Cana, Bávaro and Uvero Alto," areas that tourists want to continue visiting.
He explained that there is particular interest in Miches, where BPD financed the first hotel, the Club Med, in addition to other projects in that municipality, some in Puerto Plata and also in the Southwest, specifically in Pedernales, as well as in the cities of Santo Domingo and Santiago de los Caballeros, where they are financing a hotel, according to Listín Diario.
René Grullón, executive vice president of national and international business at BPD, reported that the Santiago hotel will be ready next year and that there are two more planned for Santo Domingo, in addition to another one to complement the room offering.
The bank executive stated that they are closely monitoring what is happening in the South of the country and that clients are seeking support; there are good expectations in Miches and other areas are being developed in Manzanillo and Monte Cristi.
Grullón said that when the Cabo Rojo-Pedernales project is developed, there will be hotels, and that supply of rooms has good potential. They are also financing a hotel in Uvero Alto.
Executives at Banco Popular understand that the world is gaining momentum, especially in the country and in all sectors of the economy in general, such as free trade zones, exports and remittances.
Paniagua and Grullón spoke during the BPD's traditional institutional breakfast with media outlets from the country, in Madrid, Spain
Modified with text from Listín Diario.
