NewsWhore
08-15-2011, 03:00 PM
Tourism consultant Tomas Hungria says that 2010 tourism statistics show that the Dominican Republic received more than four million tourist arrivals and an estimated US$4 billion in tourism receipts, and that there are 67,000 hotel rooms in the Dominican Republic. But at the same time, he said it was apparent there has been a slowdown of the pace of growth in the industry in recent years. He said that worldwide, tourism is growing 5% for 2011, but in the DR growth is at a slower 4% pace.
He criticized the fact that the indicators that are used for measuring the industry in the DR are restricted to the number of passengers, rooms and receipts. "Here we talk a lot, but we measure very little," he said, in a commentary published in Diario Libre. He commented that in Mexico, there are 112 tourism competitiveness indicators grouped in 10 dimensions and individually measured by region, as explained during the recent Fodatur conference in Santo Domingo. "Those indicators help to determine the level of competitiveness for each region and to draft the strategies to ensure tourism growth per region," he said.
"Tourism in the DR cannot be seen by the government only as a hotel business by some Spanish businessmen and a handful of Dominicans. Tourism is much more than the hotel aspect. It is operations, guides, environment, culture, health, security, economy, education, sports, communication, arts and crafts, aviation, land and sea transport, attractions, gastronomy, farm production and agribusiness," he added.
"Tourism has to be an objective of the government, an inclusive activity of all local and regional sectors, grouped in the 10 tourism clusters that have been formed and those that will be formed in the future, he said.
Hungria said there is no point in the Ministry of Tourism setting national public policies if these are going to come up against obstacles set by other ministries like environment, hacienda or municipal governments, congress members or judiciary officials.
"The Dominican tourism model is not exhausted. It just needs innovation with efficiency, productivity, quality, modernize itself with responsibility and commitment," he said in the interview.
He highlighted the need to restore competitiveness to the industry that is affected by an increase in costs. He suggested a reduced ITBIS tax for the sector, reflecting the fact that it exports a service. He also suggested an immediate downward adjustment of taxes on aviation. He said at present it is cheaper for planes to refuel in Cuba than in the DR. He said this has resulted in Air France detouring three weekly flights to Havana that used to land at Las Americas in Santo Domingo. The writer can be contacted on:
hungriatomas@hotmail.com
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#4)
He criticized the fact that the indicators that are used for measuring the industry in the DR are restricted to the number of passengers, rooms and receipts. "Here we talk a lot, but we measure very little," he said, in a commentary published in Diario Libre. He commented that in Mexico, there are 112 tourism competitiveness indicators grouped in 10 dimensions and individually measured by region, as explained during the recent Fodatur conference in Santo Domingo. "Those indicators help to determine the level of competitiveness for each region and to draft the strategies to ensure tourism growth per region," he said.
"Tourism in the DR cannot be seen by the government only as a hotel business by some Spanish businessmen and a handful of Dominicans. Tourism is much more than the hotel aspect. It is operations, guides, environment, culture, health, security, economy, education, sports, communication, arts and crafts, aviation, land and sea transport, attractions, gastronomy, farm production and agribusiness," he added.
"Tourism has to be an objective of the government, an inclusive activity of all local and regional sectors, grouped in the 10 tourism clusters that have been formed and those that will be formed in the future, he said.
Hungria said there is no point in the Ministry of Tourism setting national public policies if these are going to come up against obstacles set by other ministries like environment, hacienda or municipal governments, congress members or judiciary officials.
"The Dominican tourism model is not exhausted. It just needs innovation with efficiency, productivity, quality, modernize itself with responsibility and commitment," he said in the interview.
He highlighted the need to restore competitiveness to the industry that is affected by an increase in costs. He suggested a reduced ITBIS tax for the sector, reflecting the fact that it exports a service. He also suggested an immediate downward adjustment of taxes on aviation. He said at present it is cheaper for planes to refuel in Cuba than in the DR. He said this has resulted in Air France detouring three weekly flights to Havana that used to land at Las Americas in Santo Domingo. The writer can be contacted on:
hungriatomas@hotmail.com
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#4)