The legal consultation company, Quiroz Advisors – QA Legal, in collaboration with The Legal 500, an esteemed publisher located in London known within the international legal community, hosted the second “Tourism and Real Estate GC Roundtable” in the Dominican Republic. This event provides an open platform to deliberate on challenges troubling the tourism and real estate sectors in the country.
In this second installment, a variety of subjects, including the new territorial planning law and its effect on tourism, labor code reform and its impact on the industry, the need for a comprehensive tourism law, and the profound implications of the tax reform proposal which aims to remove tourist incentives, were scrutinized.
The managing partner of Quiroz Advisors – QA Legal, José Quiroz, commented, “This forum was initiated based on the recommendations of our clients and advisors to create a platform for discussion of the subjects that regularly involve us in the tourism and tourist real estate sector.
He further stated, “In this second round, we aim to build this valuable platform for the exchange of ideas and identifying of crucial areas that need attention. This way we can discuss matters with the top representatives from the industry and produce valuable propositions for the sector.”
The attendees agreed that enduring tourism development requires incentives that foster competitive conditions, especially in a regional context where these models are prevalent and promote “the competitiveness of the sector, compared to other markets”. This signals that it is a “complex issue” that extends beyond the boundaries of one country or region. Likewise, they pointed out the need for more effort in supervising the appropriate use of incentives to deter malpractices.
During the discussion of the new territorial planning law and its influence on tourism, the conclusion was drawn that it is vital to establish a national tourism plan. This plan will need to detail the strategy and areas to be developed, as well as tackle key matters such as infrastructure, water supply, and protection of natural resources.
Lastly, they discussed the labor code reform and the proposed changes. Laura Peña, president of Copardom, outlined the important changes for the employer sector such as flexible working hours, changes in judicial procedures and regulations of tips.
Participants in this second edition included Alicia Gómez and Manuel Alvarez-Uría from UN Tourism (previously UNWTO); Aguie Lendor, Alba Russo and Sandra Piña, from Asonahores; José Quiroz and Viclenny Liriano from QA Legal; Margherita Birri of Legal 500; Yudith Castillo, Addys Subervi, and Lucia Castillo from Grupo Puntacana; Liliana Torres from Sanctuary Cap Cana, Laura Peña Izquierdo from Copardom, Gustavo Valdez from Arquitectos Urbanistas.
Others were Raymi Mejía from Mejía Lora y Asociado, Evelyn Koury from Grupo Piñeiro, Emely Quezada from Iberostar Group, Katy Rodríguez from Coral Hospitality Corp, María Matos from Organizacion Cisneros, Nilka Abreu from Hotel El Embajador; Fabeth Martinez from AHSD, Julio Facal External Advisor from UN Tourism and Of Counsel from QA Legal, and Santiago Trillos from The Practice 360.