During the fair, the joint work of the public and private sectors has been highlighted, which has translated into excellent results for the country as a tourist destination.
Madrid Spain.– The official activities of the Dominican Republic at the International Tourism Fair (Fitur) 2023 concluded yesterday during a breakfast in which Vice President Raquel Peña highlighted the importance of the country’s democratic stability in a region saturated by conflicts, while the Minister of Tourism, David Collado, recounted the agreements signed during the fair and assured that the country shone again in Fitur.
Collado’s statement was corroborated by samuel pereira, administrator of the Reserve Bank; and René Grullón, senior executive vice president of national and international business at Banco Popular Dominicano, who pointed out that this has been the best fair for both financial institutions but also highlighted that they have worked together around tourism.
Working for the country is, in essence, the mission of the delegation that has been in Madrid since last Monday and will close the doors of the stand of the Dominican Republic next Sunday, after today and tomorrow it is open to the general public.
The vice president said it well: “for me it represents a great honor but above all I feel very proud to be Dominican and I feel very proud to see the face of all the media in the Dominican Republic joining forces for a project called country project ”.
That said, Peña thanked Collado for the great work he has been doing so that the Government can display the figures that were recently offered: the arrival of more than 7 million tourists and 1,300,000 cruise passengers last year.
Later, he thanked the Reservas and Popular banks. “Thank you also for the tremendous work that is being done since the Reserve Bankthe bank of all Dominicans, together with its entire team, with the board of directors, a large part of which is also here accompanying us this morning…”.
“You (Pereyra) are doing a tremendous job as an efficient administrator and with open doors to give life to all the projects and, specifically now with Mitur, to all the sustainable tourism development projects in the country,” he said about Banreservas. , a bank in which “each of us has even half a share.”
Regarding the Banco Popular Dominicano, Peña said that “thank you, on behalf of you (Grullón), representing what Banco Popular is, our beloved Banco Popular, which, although it is not state-owned, belongs so much to the Dominican people that we also have shares there.”
Immediately afterwards, he also thanked the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Alfredo Pacheco, for the support given by legislators to all sectors of growth and development in the Dominican Republic; and to the president of the Association of Hotels and Tourism of the Dominican Republic (Asonahores), David Llibre, for his efforts to boost the sector.
The media also did not remain grateful because, in Peña’s opinion, they are more important than ever for the government headed by Luis Abinader: “without what you transmit, nothing of what we do is known,” said the official .
Even more important, Peña said, is that the media allow them to know the information that does not reach them in any other way to guarantee that the banner of transparency continues to be raised and that officials handle every penny neatly.
It was then that Peña spoke of democracy and he wanted to do so within the framework of Fitur because the development of tourism is a cornerstone to have a solid future and to be able to raise the quality of life of all Dominicans. That is vital, she said, to preserve democracy.
“Unfortunately we know what the situation is in most of the countries in our region and we are an exception. However, the only way -and I ask you as the media- that we are going to be able to strengthen democracy in the Dominican Republic is by creating a transparent government, a government for the people, because if not the people get tired of those types of government and you already know where our peoples and our countries are headed,” he warned.
a satisfied minister
After thanking the vice president for her support, Collado assured that he feels happy, excited and with the satisfaction of having fulfilled his duty. Such has been the country’s performance, said Collado, that it made it possible for Kings Felipe VI and Letizia to visit the Dominican stand, although the Dominican Republic was not Fitur’s partner country.
“The kings entered the stand of the Dominican Republic and expressed that they did so because of the great performance that the Dominican Republic had had in the recovery of tourism,” said Collado.
Behind all this, Collado stressed, there is hard work that was clearly expressed in Fitur: financial entities, the team from the Ministry of Tourism, Asonahores… “we have not stopped holding meetings every fifteen to twenty minutes.”
Precisely from those meetings, the announcements and concrete results that can be exhibited have emerged: the arrival of Sports Illustrated in Cap Cana, with an investment of US$50 million; the Yanuna project, from the Pioneer Fund, for US$2 billion; and the investment of US$90 million by the Martinón family in a Hyatt on the Winston Churchill corner of Paseo de los Locutores and another US$50 million in the remodeling of a hotel in Punta Cana-Bávaro.
Collado also recalled that Frank Elías Rainieri signed a financing with Banco de Reservas for US$200 million to build the Zemí hotel in Miches; Rafael Canto Blanco will invest US$150 million in a Viva Wyndam Resorts in Miches, Grupo El Fuerte signed a US$325 million loan for a thousand-room Hyatt in Miches and the Rainieri family announced US$135 million for an all-inclusive W in Miches.
In addition, the Cisneros family will invest US$200 million in a Four Seasons in Miches, BH Caribe signed a contract for US$450 million (US$250 million immediately and US$200 million in May) with Banco Popular Dominicano and Grupo Piñero will invest US$100 million in Bahía Príncipe (US$50 million this year and the other US$50 million next year).
In total, these are investments for US$3.645 million, of which US$1.645 will be invested this year, said Collado.
In this sense, Deputy Minister Tammy Reynoso, of promotion and development, indicated that they had more than 18 meetings with travel agents and tour operators, signed eleven collaboration agreements that will represent the arrival of 780,000 tourists from various parts of Europe in the seasons winter/summer and made more than 20 presentations of Creole destinations.
During the breakfast offered to journalists, Jacqueline Mora, technical vice minister, also intervened, who maintained that the tourism recovery plan carried out by Mitur was done responsibly, which allowed last year to be the best in history.
The results of the two banks
popular Bank
- Grullón reported that since Sunday they had more than 40 meetings in which they managed to finalize 12 projects with which they had been working and will have financing of more than US$1.23 billion to build 8,720 new rooms. Added to this are other negotiations made for US$1.2 billion more, which increases the contracts to US$2.4 billion.
banreservas
- Pereyra said that they had more than 55 meetings in which they had investment requests that exceed US$4,000 million and financing of over US$2,300 million that will represent 6,000 new rooms to be built.
