The tourist destinations of the Dominican Republic would receive more than 1.2 million visitors in the last two months of 2021, according to the projections managed by the Ministry of Tourism and which were revealed this Thursday by the head of that portfolio, David Collado.
The minister assured that the country would end this year receiving the visit of five million tourists. He explained that for this month the arrival of more than 573 thousand foreign visitors is expected and for December the arrival of more than 650 thousand is projected.
He highlighted that airport reservations are 20% more than for December 2019 and that for next January, as of today, the number of reservations is similar to those of the same month of 2018, the best period for Dominican tourism.
“The data is amazing. The hotels in the capital, for the first time, there are occupations of up to 100% ”, highlighted Collado when speaking after leading the delivery of the card to tourist guides.
In the same sense, the president of the Association of Hotels and Tourism of the Dominican Republic (Asonahores), Rafael Blanco Tejera, said that the recovery of this sector in the country is being felt at a geographical level.
Blanco Tejera said that all Dominican destinations will present “very impressive and positive” numbers.
“The north coast already has a very important rebound in terms of the arrival of tourists and we understand that the high season will not only be from the east, which is nourished more by the United States and therefore recovered before the north coast, which it feeds more on Europe ”, he explained.
Uber case
Regarding the pre-agreement reached between the government, Asonahores and the transport company Uber, the president of the association trusted that the regularization will put an end to the problem that confronts conventional taxi drivers with those of the digital platform.
“From the beginning we have had a working table with Uber, with the authorities and the unions themselves and we all agreed that the important thing was to start the process of regularization of these services and Uber is already in the best position to do so. With this we are competing under the same conditions, which was the claim of some sectors, “he added.
ID card
On Thursday, the Ministry of Tourism delivered more than 130 “Tu Card” identifications, with a QR code, to tourist guides in the country to contribute to the modernization and strengthening of the security that the entire value chain of the tourism industry receives.
David Collado made the symbolic delivery of the new cards to 15 members of the Dominican Federation of Tourist Guides, in a ceremony held at the Lina Barceló Santo Domingo hotel.
“The renewed cards will be the proof that with only a cell phone in hand the inspector will be able to verify that he is a true tourist guide. We have licensed and modernized the tourist guides in a different vision of how we are going to prepare the country’s tourism industry ”, he said.
With the delivery of this certification, each tourist guide will provide digitally their basic personal data, work history and studies of their license to each consumer who requires their services.
He highlighted that, of the 1,800 tour guides who work throughout the country, there are already 900 who are ready for the high season.
