Madrid Spain. – Beyond the notable presence achieved by the Dominican Republic at the recently concluded Madrid International Tourism Fair, Fitur 2024, the setting was conducive for the Minister of Tourism, David Collado, to tell the world that tourism in the Caribbean country closed 2023 with the historic figure of more than 10 million visitors, numbers that they hope to exceed this year by strengthening gastronomy and sports tourism.
In an interview given to the Spanish news agency EFE during Fitur 2024 and reported by media outlets from various countries, David Collado highlighted that gastronomic and sports tourism are two priorities in 2024 for the Dominican Republic.
“We are leaving with 3.5 billion dollars in new investments for the Dominican Republic, these days are an exhausting agenda, but the results are shocking,” said the minister.
This amount will be allocated to 19 tourism projects, which will provide more than 9,000 new rooms in different areas of the country.
Collado also indicated that in Fitur they also closed 16 agreements with three airlines (the Spanish Iberia and Air Europa and the Swiss Edelwise), with 11 tour operators and two with travel agencies, one of them El Corte Inglés.
“The objective of these agreements is to attract 322,000 passengers to the Dominican Republic, with an impact on foreign currency of more than 280 million dollars, and which directly and indirectly represent more than 26,000 jobs,” stressed the Minister of Tourism David Collado.
A university for tourism in the eastern area
The European market occupies the third position in sending tourists to the Dominican Republic, behind the United States (first) and Canada (second), and the Caribbean country's objective is to overcome the barrier of one million visitors from Europe in 2024.
Despite this third position, 50% of all hotel rooms are of Spanish origin, “that is why it is symbolic and important to come to Fitur,” said Collado.
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With the Spanish hotel groups, the Dominican Ministry recalled, in coordination with the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the creation of a hospitality university in the eastern part of the country.
«It is a project that excites me very much. Education for our country if we want to continue being a power in the Caribbean is essential,” the minister acknowledged.
“One of our challenges to strengthen ourselves is that, especially in the eastern area, where the numbers of new rooms, new hotels and new projects are growing rapidly,” he added.
Gastronomy and sport
From this edition of Fitur, the Dominican Ministry of Tourism also has an agreement with the Basque Culinary Center, an academic and research institution based in the Spanish city of San Sebastián (north).
“They will accompany us and prepare us to be able to grow in this area,” said Collado, who explained that this alliance is financed by the Dominican Reserve Bank, the first financial entity in the country.
«We firmly believe in gastronomic tourism. On several occasions we have been chosen as the gastronomic capital, but we want more, we want to have a restaurant with Michelin stars, to be in the important gastronomic guides in the world,” he stated.
Along with gastronomy, the Dominican Republic wants to reinforce sports tourism in 2024, which includes the celebration in the country of the Professional Golfers Association of the United States (PGA) tournament, “an extremely important event worldwide and especially for the North American market.
This year it will be held in March, in Corales, Punta Cana, “and we appointed a commission with the private sector to design a robust strategy for the entire year in favor of sports tourism,” said Collado, who stated that only to play República The Dominican Republic receives 200,000 tourists a year.
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In addition to golf, the focus of tourism authorities is on “wave and wind sports, such as surfing or kitesurfing.”
“We want international tournaments to be held in the Dominican Republic, we understand that these types of events will help us strengthen tourism,” concluded Collado.