The Banco Popular Dominicano and the Embassy of the Dominican Republic in France hosted a gala dinner in honor of the national delegation, hoteliers and tourism investors with interests in the Dominican Republic, participants in the International French Travel Market – Top Resa 2023, held in Paris, France.
The dinner, which took place at the Dominican embassy in Paris, was attended by more than thirty attendees, who had a pleasant conversation during the evening of the first day of the fair.
Top Resa takes place from October 3 to 5 at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles fairgrounds. It is one of the main professional tourism fairs in Europe and the gateway to the French-speaking markets, which in 2022 attracted the attendance of 29,475 tourism professionals, a third of the guests being travel agencies, in charge of mobilizing tourist traffic to different destinations.
Impressive tourism achievements
In his opening remarks, the vice-president of the Tourism Business Area, Mr. Juan Manuel Martín de Oliva, thanked the Dominican embassy in France for hosting them for another year and expressed the pride of the financial organization for “the impressive achievements made” in the field of tourism: “Without a doubt, the joint work of the public and private sectors is the key to our productive model in the field of tourism,” he said.
For her part, the ambassador of the Dominican Republic in France, Mrs. Rosa Hernández de Grullón, said that “France is one of the most important European countries of origin of tourists to our destination, which is evidence of a job well done, well thought out and well executed”.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Tourism, Mr. David Collado, also stressed that the success of tourism in the Dominican Republic lies in “the unity between the public and private sectors” and announced that he expects to reach the goal of 10 million tourists by December.
The president of the National Association of Hotels and Tourism (ASONAHORES), Mr. David Llibre, ratified the value of this public-private alliance that has allowed the strengthening and expansion of tourism in the Dominican Republic.
Attendees to the evening
Among those attending the gala dinner were Encarna Piñero, executive president of Grupo Piñero; Frank Elías Rainieri, executive president of Grupo Puntacana; and Antonio Yapor, president of Caribbean Holding Group.
Also in attendance were Mrs. Mariel Bera, vice-president of Corporate Relations and Responsible Banking, among other executives of the bank.
Also present were Mr. Benedite Cournet, marketing representative in France of the Viva Group; Ekaterina Pavlova, Commercial and Marketing director of the Meliá Group; Ricardo Felip Cooter, vice-president of Coral Hospitality; Sebastien García, general director of Meeting Point; Gustavo de Hostos, president of the Dominican-Canadian Chamber of Commerce (CANCHAMRD); Ramón Tejeda, director of Coral Hospitality; Carlos Medrano, executive president of Runners Adventures; María Gracia, president of Colonial Tours; Edward del Valle, president of Grupo del Valle; Cesarina Beauchamp, commercial director of Sky High; and Rafael Caballero, vice president of Grupo Preferente.
Commitment to tourism development
Banco Popular’s participation in this tourism fair is part of its commitment to the development of the hotel and tourism sector in the Dominican Republic, accompanying its main players in professional events that are decisive for the growth of visitor arrivals to the Dominican Republic and the attraction of new investments that strengthen the hotel infrastructure.
Popular has been the main financier of the national tourism industry for more than 30 years and in these decades has innovated with specialized financial solutions, leading important banking operations in synergy with the other subsidiaries that make up the Popular Group.
In the last eight years, Banco Popular has approved financing for more than US$1.6 billion, which has allowed the construction and renovation of more than 15,000 rooms and has contributed to the generation of direct and indirect jobs for more than 28,000 people.
Fuente: Mitur.gob.do
