While it is true that the Dominican Republic is a tourist destination that is well positioned in the Caribbean and the world, this does not mean that the sector has challenges to overcome in order to maintain its competitiveness and guarantee the return of investments made in the tourism industry.
On the subject, Abel Matutes Prats, executive president of Palladium Hotel Group, indicated that the country has been having good years in terms of tourist arrivals but at the same time has a series of problems, as is the case of competitiveness.
“We have to be aware that the problems are there and for me the main problem has to do with losing competitiveness, since sometimes it brings with it that there is not as satisfactory a return on investment as other competing destinations, and that is a difficulty in the medium term and in the end can cause more investment not to come to the country,” he added.
He stressed to arecoa.com that the Dominican Republic is a magnificent country, with many attractions for tourists and is having good years in terms of tourism, but it must try not to continue losing competitiveness with respect to destinations such as Jamaica, Mexico and Aruba.
The executive said that in his opinion the issue of competitiveness would be the only “but” or “risk” that the country’s tourism is running. “In the end, when things are going well and are not going badly, we have to be aware of the risks so that we don’t suddenly have to try to avoid them, because we could regret what we didn’t do when we should have done it.
Matutes emphasized, during his participation in the panel “Dominican Tourism: vision of Spanish businessmen”, that the tourism sector not only has to stay with the record numbers of tourist arrivals, but also has to evaluate how strong it continues to be in order to maintain competition in a world increasingly inclined to responsible tourism.
“If the country remains competitive it will continue to attract more investment, not only from us, but also from other competitors. It will continue to attract wealth,” he said.
In that sense, he pointed out that we must try to revitalize destinations that have declined, as is the case of the North Coast.
“I think the main challenge that the country has and the one we have to look at, is why we simply stay in the figures and do not see the possible dangers that may come, when they impact we will regret not having taken measures,” Matutes reiterated.
Source: Arecoa
