Banco BHD held its first BHD Tourism and Investment Forum, a space created to present and analyze topics of common interest regarding tourism and foreign investment in the Dominican Republic. This event is an initiative of BHD’s Corporate and Business Banking and takes place within the framework of the celebration of the Madrid International Tourism Fair (FITUR).
The activity was led by Steven Puig, president of Banco BHD, who offered welcome words; and included the intervention of David Collado, Minister of Tourism of the Dominican Republic.
“We have been financing tourism-related projects for more than 20 years and recently we adhered to the Responsible Banking Principles. This forum, which is the first of many, is a space for learning, the exchange of knowledge and good practices that enrich the role of each of us in the industry,” said Puig.
The forum took place in two parts. The first with keynote presentations by Bernardo Fuentes, vice president of Economic Studies at Banco BHD, who spoke about the evolution and perspectives of the Dominican economy; and Jacqueline Mora, technical vice minister of Tourism, who presented how the Ministry promotes tourism investment in the country.
The second part was the panel Sustainable tourism: Current situation, perspective, mitigants and best practicesmoderated by Luis Molina Maríñez, senior vice president of Corporate and Business Banking at Banco BHD. The panelists were Haydee Kuret de Rainieri, co-founder and vice president of the board of directors of Grupo Puntacana; Felipe Buhigas, corporate commercial and marketing director of Solunion; Paola Serrano, regional and markets director for LATAM and international at Global Risks at MAPFRE, and David Llibre, president of the National Association of Hotels and Tourism of the Dominican Republic (Asonahores).
“This is a meeting in which we materialize a goal that we all share, and that is to continue promoting the development of the Dominican tourism sector through those who know it best and their best sustainability practices,” said Molina Maríñez.
Among the topics addressed by the panelists are the contribution of environmental protection and community development projects, sustainability practices, social inclusion and its impact on communities, challenges of the tourism sector in the implementation of sustainable practices, sustainability trends in tourism, and mitigation of environmental and social risks linked to tourism.
Also attending the forum were Juan Bolívar Díaz, ambassador of the Dominican Republic to the kingdom of Spain; government, diplomatic and consular officials of the Dominican Republic; local officials, Dominican and Spanish businessmen, and BHD executives, among other figures in the tourism sector.