Pedernales joins the Cluster movement

[NewsWhore]

Governor Francis Ramirez, senator Dionis Sanchez and mayor Domingo Ortiz, plus outgoing mayor Jacobo Feliz Terrero representing Pedernales, the westernmost city in the DR, gathered to join the National Competitiveness Council's national tourism cluster movement in a formal ceremony on Friday, 1 September. Also present were deputy Environment Minister Jose Manuel Mateo and deputy Tourism Minister Jose Santana. The Cluster is pushing will be for a sustainable tourism model for the province. The National Competitiveness program will fund the Cluster's first programs with a donation of RD$4,275,000. The province of Pedernales includes the Jaragua and Sierra de Bahoruco national parks. The region has been moving ahead since 2003 with the support of the Spanish International Development Agency's Araucaria Project that has assisted the province in preparing a development strategy. Speaking at the event, Marino Jose Vilomar, president of the Cluster, advocated a new tourism development model for Pedernales. "We want to be the leading actors of the tourism development of the province, not to be cast aside," he said at the event. He called for a tourism model in which the natural resources may not be depleted by short-term visions and expectations, local or foreign, but cared for, while being exploited with respect to the environment, and where the people of Pedernales can participate with dignity. "We hope that by now those who are insatiable have shame on their faces and put a stop to the constant campaign that seeks to confuse the poor telling them that their future and that of their families depends on the mutilation of our parks. The Cluster backs the Ministry of Environment proposal to develop tourism lodging outside the Bahia de las Aguilas protected area. As part of the preliminary work of the Pedernales community, they have already branded their product.
See http://www.pedernales.com

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