The Banco Popular Dominicano and the Embassy of the Dominican Republic in France offered a gala dinner in honor of the national delegation, hoteliers and tourism investors with interests in the Dominican Republic, participants in the International French Travel Market – Top Resa 2023, held in the city of Paris, France.
The dinner, which took place at the headquarters of the Dominican embassy in Paris, featured the 
attendance of more than thirty attendees, who mingled pleasantly during the evening of the first day of the fair.
Top Resa takes place from October 3 to 5 at the Paris Expo Puerta de Versalles fairgrounds. It is one of the main professional tourism fairs in Europe and the gateway to French-speaking markets, which in 2022 attracted the attendance of 29,475 professionals linked to tourism, with a third of the guests being travel agencies, in charge of mobilize tourist traffic to different destinations.
Impressive tourism achievements
In his central words, the vice president of the Tourism Business Area, Mr. Juan Manuel Martín de Oliva, thanked the Dominican embassy in France for hosting them for another year and expressed the pride of the financial organization for “the impressive achievements achieved” in the tourism field. : “Without a doubt, the combined work of the public and private sectors is the key to our productive model in tourism,” he said.
For her part, the ambassador of the Dominican Republic in France, Rosa Hernández de Grullón, stated that “France is one of the most important European countries that send tourists to our destination, which shows a job well accomplished, well thought out and well executed.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of Tourism, David Collado, also stressed that the success of tourism in the Dominican Republic lies in “the unity between the public and private sectors” and announced that he hopes that in the month of December the goal of achieve the visit of 10 million visitors.
The president of the National Association of Hotels and Tourism (Asonahores), Mr. David Llibre, ratified the appreciation of this public-private alliance that has allowed the strengthening and expansion of tourism in the Dominican Republic.
Attendees of the evening
Among those attending the gala dinner were businessmen and tourism executives Encarna Piñero, executive president of the Piñero Group; Frank Elías Rainieri, executive president of the Puntacana Group, and Antonio Yapor, president of Caribbean Holding Group.
Also attended by Mariel Bera, vice president of the Corporate Relations and Responsible Banking Area, among other executives of the banking entity.
Likewise, Benedite Cournet, marketing representative in France of the Viva Group; Ekaterina Pavlova, Commercial and Marketing Director of the Meliá Group; Ricardo Felip Cooter, vice president of Coral Hospitality; Sebastien García, general director of Meeting Point; Gustavo de Hostos, president of the Dominican-Canadian Chamber of Commerce (CANCHAMRD); Ramón Tejeda, director of Coral Hospitality; Carlos Medrano, executive president of Runners Adventures; María Gracia, president of Colonial Tours; Edward del Valle, president of Grupo del Valle; Cesarina Beauchamp, commercial director of Sky High; and Rafael Caballero, vice president of the Preferential Group.
Commitment to the development of tourism
The participation of Banco Popular in this tourism fair is part of its commitment to the development of the hotel and tourism sector in the Dominican Republic, accompanying its main actors in professional events that are decisive for the growth of the arrival of visitors to the Dominican Republic and the attraction of new investments that strengthen hotel infrastructure.
El Popular has been the main financier of the national tourism industry for more than 30 years and in these decades it has innovated with specialized financial solutions, leading important banking operations in synergy with the other subsidiaries that make up the Popular Group.
In the last eight years, Banco Popular has approved financing for more than US$1.6 billion, which has allowed the construction and renovation of more than 15,000 rooms and has contributed to the generation of direct and indirect jobs for more than 28,000 people.