PUNTA CANA – The Dominican Republic’s Minister of Tourism, David Collado, has declared the country a dominant force in the global tourism industry. This declaration comes at the UN Tourism Africa and the Americas summit held in the Caribbean country from Thursday to Saturday.
The Dominican Republic’s leadership in international tourism is indisputable. For the first time in history, representatives from two continents are coming together to discuss the evolution of this critical sector of our economy, according to Minister Collado’s inaugural summit address.
Collado expressed appreciation towards the ministers who are attending the international summit. He firmly believes that this meeting point between Africa and the Americas will be a springboard for intercontinental collaborative promotion and development of tourism.
“From this New World, the important initiative of promoting a shared tourism agenda begins. This industry brings prosperity to nations,” said Collado, who serves as UN Tourism’s president for the Americas.
The event, which the Dominican Republic prompted in partnership with UN Tourism, focuses on “Promoting South-South cooperation through investment in Education, Culture, Creative Industries, and Innovation.”
In addition to Collado, the opening ceremony featured the Dominican Foreign Minister, Roberto Álvarez, Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary-General of UN Tourism, Louis Steven Obeegadoo, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Housing and Spatial Planning, and Tourism Minister of the Republic of Mauritius and President of the Regional Commission for Africa (TBC).
For three days, Paradisus Palma Real Golf & Spa Resort hotel will host a series of high-level meetings, presentations, and sessions led by ministers, scholars, experts, and industry figures from both regions. They will discuss challenges, investment potential, sustainable jurisdiction, accessible tourism, innovation, culture, history, and mutual growth opportunities.
Workshops and discussions among the participants kicked off right after the opening ceremony.
Workshops and discussions
The program started in the mid-morning with a highlight presentation by Auxillia Mnangagwa, who is the Patroness of Tourism and the First Lady of the Republic of Zimbabwe.
This was followed by the High Level Ministerial Dialogue titled “Building Opportunities between Africa and the Americas”. The discussion and subsequent bilateral meetings are aimed at fostering greater cooperation in tourism, promoting cultural exchanges, sustainable practices, connectivity, and opening new economic and tourism growth horizons between the two regions.
The program also adopted the Punta Cana Declaration and the keynote presentation “Building bridges between continents: promoting links between Africa and the Americas”, given by Peter Cerda, IATA Regional Vice President.
The power of culinary to unite continents, titled ‘Cooking connections’, will be presented by UN Tourism ambassador and Ethiopian chef, Yohanis Hailemariam.
In the afternoon of the summit day, the vice president of the Republic, Raquel Pena will deliver a concluding speech on the day’s proceedings. The theme for the forum is “Promoting South-South cooperation through investment in Education, Culture, Creative Industries and Innovation.”