When the pandemic In 2020, the productive sectors at the national and international levels were forced to take measures and innovate so as not to disappear or not be so badly hit.
Among these sectors is the tourism. Reservations were cancelled, ports and airports they closed their doors, and the employees had to go home. But, what did the Dominican authorities do to raise the industry without a chimney?
the minister of tourism Dominican, David Colladomade a chronology of the steps that were taken so that today the numbers show that the country has an industry that is a world example.
From July 2020, transition period, Collado began to travel to the main source countries of tourists to the Dominican Republic, as United States and European nations.
In the transition he went to Philadelphia, USA, where he met with the executives headed by Alex Zozaya of the Apple Leisure Groupa group that sends more than a million American tourists a year to the Dominican Republic.
He then traveled to Palma de Mallorca, where he met with Gabriel Escarrer, from the chain Melia; with Sabina Fluxa, from Iberostar; and Encarna Piñero, president of the Pineapple Groupof the hotels of the Spanish chain Bahia Principeand, in turn, representative, via Iberotelof the 16 Spanish families that have 65% of the hotel rooms in the Dominican Republic.
“Everyone agreed that the Dominican Republic had not handled the crisis in the best way. tourism in the middle of the pandemic. They told us: it is that suddenly they announce that they are going to ask for compulsory tests in the airports 24 hours before. And what do we do with the tourists who booked two or three months before at a time when United States, if you had no symptoms, a test could last up to two weeks? That’s where the cancellations came to the Dominican Republic, ”explained Collado.
He said that, also, the businessmen told them that the Civil Defense and other institutions closed the country’s beaches and announced it in 24 hours.
“We talk to them about the creation of the Cabinet of tourism, that the President of the Republic was going to preside over it, and that we were going to carry out the general coordination. Customs, Immigration, Airport, Cesac, the Civil Aviation Board, the Foreign Ministry, among other institutions, were going to be in this cabinet, who were going to help act quickly in any situation and any problem that might arise, “explained the head of the portfolio of tourism.
Another step was to get to work between Paola Rainieri, president of the National Association of Hotels and tourism from Dominican Republic (Asonahores) at that time, and Andrés Marranzini, also from the guild. The first thing they did was create some health protocols that will generate confidence in tourists.
“We made some robust protocols and let everyone know about them,” Collado said.
Also, they decided present the results of COVID-19 by the sectors and by the tourist poles.
In addition, they created COVID-19 Insurance, at a time when private insurance in the Dominican Republic did not cover this disease or anywhere in the world.
“The Dominican Republic launched covid insurance for tourists, and it was around that time that the world looked towards the Dominican Republic. That innovative measure that we took from the Tourism Cabinet drew attention”Minister of Tourism
Subsequently, a strategy committee and work where did the idea of encourage the tourism internal.
“We launched with the Banco de Reservas and the Banco Popular the campaign of tourism internal with a year of financing without interest. With this, what were we looking for? That we start moving the wheel. The first weekend, the hotels were completely packed, and the tourism internal began to mean 40 and 50 percent of hotel occupancies on weekends, and today it represents between 15 and 20 percent, “he said.
In December 2020 and January 2021, the government ordered the delivery of 400,000 COVID-19 tests to hotels to test visitors.
“The tourism industry has an extremely important weight in the economy of our country and we have done this thanks to public-private work and data. We have created the most important and complete intelligence center in the region”Minister of Tourism
Collado said that the intelligence center allows knowing how many tourists entered the Dominican Republic the day before, where they entered, what percentage are foreigners, which countries they come from, how old they are and where they stayed. Added to this is the change in strategy at the national and international level.
“We have divided the strategy into two: one, to recover the tourism; also, we understood that we had to strengthen the infrastructure, for when the tourism will return to find a country that is stronger, more solid and more prepared… We started a project to rejuvenate the beaches. We are working on the beach in Macao, Guayacanes I and Guayacanes II, in Galera in Samaná, Los Patos in Barahona, and we will continue like this. And all the beaches will have security cameras and free internet,” he said.
