The government delegation of the Dominican Republic prevailed in Fitur over its largest tourism competitor such as Mexico in terms of hotel investments presented at the fair, with 19 projects announced compared to none from the Aztec country.
The Dominican Minister of Tourism, David Collado, summarized that for the next three years, 19 new hotel projects have been formalized with more than 9 thousand rooms and an estimated investment of about 3 billion dollars.
Collado explained that, of these rooms, 2,627 are in Miches, 5,511 in Bávaro/Punta Cana, 877 in Santo Domingo and 130 in Santiago.
The Dominican Minister of Tourism also starred in the presentation of the agreement between the Rainieris and Meliá for a new project in Punta Bergantín, in Puerto Plata.
The Martinón Group and the Reserve Bank also formalized the agreement for the construction of the first two hotels that will operate in the Punta Bergantín project, under the Hyatt Ziva and Hyatt Zilara brands.
Likewise, Alterra Village and Grupo De Valle announced their plans to develop the first Registry Collection hotels and residences in Jarabacoa.
Cap Cana, for its part, presented a hotel project of more than 500 million investment in Juanillo, which will consist of 22 lots that will be developed in different phases, designed for boutique hotels.
Likewise, the Puntacana Group revealed its next project in the East of the country, with some 80 ultra-luxury rooms, with the Playa Serena Punta Cana Resort brand that hopes to be inaugurated in 2026.
In the marketing section, Collado highlighted that during this Fitur 16 agreements were reached, which included three airlines, 11 tour operators and two travel agency consortia.
Precisely, in the case of Mexico, the Secretary of Tourism, Miguel Torruco, stuck to stating that the set objectives were met, since “we had 40 interviews on the agenda due to the enormous interest of Europeans in the Mayan Train.”
During the Madrid fair, the top leaders of the Spanish hotel chains grouped in the Caribbean Tourism Investors Association (Inverotel), chaired by Encarna Piñero, CEO of Grupo Piñero, expressed to Torruco their intention to expand their investments in other destinations of the country, in a meeting in which the governor of Quintana Roo, Mara Lezama, also participated, as anticipated REPORT.mx (Cancun: large hoteliers ask Torruco for more destinations to invest in Mexico).
At this lunch, held last Wednesday at the Meliá Palacio de los Duques, investors focused their praise precisely on the governor who is in charge of the destinations of Cancún and Riviera Maya.
The next day, Inverotel associates, in that same establishment, congratulated Collado for having reached the record of 10 million foreign tourists in 2023 for the first time in its history.
Both meetings were attended by the leaders of Meliá (Gabriel Escarrer), Riu (Joan Trian Riu), Bahía Príncipe (Encarna Piñero), Iberostar (Sabina Fluxá), Palladium (Abel Matutes) and Princess (Carlos Poy).
Dominican beats Mexico in hotel investments in Fitur with 19 projects announced