Protests affect tourism

[NewsWhore]

Arturo Villanueva, vice president of the National Hotel and Restaurants Association (ASONAHORES), says that the recent wave of protests that have hit the DR will directly affect the nation's image and will have a negative effect on the tourism sector. Villanueva says that a good tourism sector needs peace and tranquility in order to develop, adding that these protests could also affect domestic tourism. He accepted that it was human nature to protest, but warned that it becomes a problem when protests turn violent. Villanueva's concerns are heightened by a report by the World Economic Forum that placed the DR's tourism competitiveness at 67 out of 133 countries, four notches below its 2008 ranking. Other issues of concern for the tourism sector, according to ASONAHORES president Haydee Kuret de Rainieri, are deficiencies in tourism infrastructure.

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