Paris, France. – The Dominican Popular Bank and the Embassy of the Dominican Republic in France hosted a gala dinner in honor of the national delegation, hoteliers, and tourism investors interested in the Dominican Republic. The attendees were participants in the International French Travel Market – Top Resa 2023, held in Paris, France. The dinner took place at the Dominican embassy in Paris and was attended by over thirty people who enjoyed the evening during the fair’s first day. Top Resa is held from October 3 to 5 at the Paris Expo Puerta de Versalles fairgrounds. It is one of Europe’s main professional tourism fairs and serves as the gateway to French-speaking markets. In 2022, the fair attracted 29,475 professionals from the tourism industry. Among them, a third were travel agencies responsible for organizing tourist traffic to various destinations.
Impressive tourism achievements were highlighted during the event. The vice president of the Tourism Business Area, Juan Manuel Martín de Oliva, expressed gratitude to the Dominican embassy in France for hosting the event and praised the remarkable accomplishments in the tourism field. He emphasized that collaboration between the public and private sectors is key to their productive tourism model. The ambassador of the Dominican Republic in France, Rosa Hernández de Grullón, acknowledged that France is one of the most important European countries sending tourists to their destination. She attributed this success to a well-executed and well-thought-out plan. The Minister of Tourism, David Collado, also emphasized the importance of the public and private sectors working together and announced the goal of attracting 10 million tourists by December.
The president of the National Association of Hotels and Tourism (Asonahores), David Llibre, praised the public-private partnership that has contributed to the growth and expansion of tourism in the Dominican Republic. The gala dinner was attended by prominent figures in the business and tourism sectors, including executives from the Piñero Group, Puntacana Group, and Caribbean Holding Group, among others.
Banco Popular’s participation in this tourism fair demonstrates its commitment to the development of the hotel and tourism sector in the Dominican Republic. The bank has been the main financier of the national tourism industry for over 30 years, providing specialized financial solutions and leading important banking operations in collaboration with other subsidiaries of the Popular Group. Over the past eight years, Banco Popular has approved financing of over US$1.6 billion, contributing to the construction and renovation of more than 15,000 hotel rooms and creating over 28,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Since it is important to mention the names of the attendees, here are some of the notable figures present at the gala dinner: Gustavo de Hostos, Rosa Hernández de Grullón, Juan Manuel Martín de Oliva, Theresa Sullivan, and Mariel Bera. Additional attendees included Sandra Rodríguez, Ysidro García, Rosa Hernández de Grullón, Juan Manuel Martín de Oliva, Theresa Sullivan, Mariel Bera, David Collado, Juan Manuel Martín de Oliva, and Eduardo del Valle.