The project creates six Regional Tourism and Ecotourism Clusters in six areas of the country, namely, the Eastern Tourism Cluster, the Northern or Cibao Cluster, the Southern Cluster, the Greater Santo Domingo Cluster, the Southwestern Cluster, and the Northwest Cluster
SANTO DOMINGO. – The bill that creates and regulates tourism and ecotourism clusters in the Dominican Republic expired in the Senate on July 26, 2026, after more than seven months in the Permanent Tourism Commission, without the Commission submitting a final report to the Plenary.
Twelve days later, on August 7, Senator Cristóbal Venerado Castillo Liriano, the proponent of the initiative, resubmitted it, with the same title and, according to the comparison made for this information, the same text, without a single modification.
A documented procedure that didn't arrive on time
The original file, 01265-2025-SLO-SE, was deposited on December 11, 2025. The Plenary took it into consideration and sent it to the Permanent Tourism Commission on December 16 of that year.
The project was not shelved or forgotten in committee; the Senate itself publicly documented its progress on at least three occasions:
- On April 20, 2026, the Tourism Commission, with Senator Castillo Liriano participating as a guest, agreed to review at a future meeting the corresponding reports with the modifications presented by the Senate's Legislative Technical Directorate (DITEREL) on this and other initiatives of his.
- On May 25, the committee decided to invite a delegation from the Ministry of Tourism to hear their opinions and suggestions on the project.
- On June 11, that commission received the MITUR delegation, along with representatives from the Ministry of Public Health, and a new meeting was scheduled.
Unlike press releases issued by the Senate, the Senate's digital case management system records its own history of formal steps: deposit on December 11, 2025, agenda and referral to committee on December 16, and a management report read on May 18, 2026.
That system does not reflect the June 11 meeting with the Ministry of Tourism and Public Health, which is documented only in Senate press releases. From the May 18 management report, the system jumps directly to closure: on July 26, 2026, the file for the item was marked as “Expired.”.
In other words, there were meetings, there was a modified version of DITEREL under discussion, there was a consultation with MITUR and Public Health, but there was never a commission report, favorable or unfavorable, that would allow the project to reach the Plenary before the regulatory deadline expired.
The same law, word for word
The new file, 01793-2026-SLO-SE, was received by the Senate's Legislative General Secretariat on August 8, 2026, one day after its creation in the system. A comparison of the complete text, article by article, recital by recital, against the original document from December 2025, found no differences in content.
The only changes between the two documents are in format: the seal and signature of receipt, and the footer with the contact details of the senator's office, present in the 2025 version and absent in the 2026 version, both of which are posted on the Senate website.
This means that the DITEREL modifications discussed by the committee in April, and any observations that arose from the consultation with MITUR in June, were not incorporated into the text before its expiration. The senator chose to resubmit the original version, not a revised one.
What the project establishes
The text, in its twelve articles, creates and regulates tourism and ecotourism clusters as instruments of public-private cooperation to promote sustainable development, competitiveness, innovation and territorial cohesion in the country's tourist destinations.
It defines the cluster as the association or strategic alliance made up of companies in the tourism sector, public institutions, community organizations, academic institutions and non-profit entities, which collaborate in a coordinated manner in a given territory.
The central point, and the one that marks the greatest distance from the model that exists today in practice, is in article 4: it authorizes the creation of Regional Tourism and Ecotourism Clusters in six areas of the country, namely, the Eastern Tourism Cluster, the Northern or Cibao Cluster, the Southern Cluster, the Greater Santo Domingo Cluster, the Southwestern Cluster and the Northwest Cluster.
This regional model does not correspond to the way in which Dominican tourism clusters have been organized to date, already known by specific destinations such as Puerto Plata, La Romana-Bayahíbe, Santo Domingo, Samaná, Jarabacoa, the ecotourism of Espaillat, among others.
The project does not mention these organizations nor does it establish what would happen to them if their territory falls within one of the six regional clusters that the law would create.
The rest of the article establishes that each cluster may be constituted as a non-profit legal entity under Law 122-05, as is already the practice; that it will be made up of representatives of MITUR, local governments, chambers of commerce, academic institutions, community organizations and private companies.
It also states that a cluster will have seven specific objectives, including human capital training, joint promotion, and investment attraction.
The project involves the creation of a National Directorate of Tourism and Ecotourism Clusters within the Ministry of Tourism, which will be responsible for coordinating and supervising the model.
According to the proposal, clusters recognized by MITUR will be able to access tax incentives from Law 158-01 and four sources of financing: private contributions, state funds, international cooperation and local development projects.
The document was sent on August 19 to the Permanent Tourism Commission of the chamber, which as of the date of this publication has not been convened.
Recommended readings:
