The Ministry of Tourism (Mitur) is working on the creation of an education system for the human capital required by the country’s growing hotel development, and to this end, Minister David Collado announced the creation of a higher education institute in Punta Cana focused on tourism.
He indicated that the center will be built with the savings of the institution and estimated that Mitur has in reserve some US$20 million to create “a high-level professional school”.
Donation of land
He affirmed that the initiative already has the land for its construction, which will be donated by the Puntacana Group, for the benefit of the Dominican State.
“We are going to make an investment with the savings we have in Mitur to create a professional tourism school in order to have a better service and for tourism to be sustainable over time, since Punta Cana and Bávaro receive 4.5 million tourists on average per year, so it is necessary to strengthen education,” Collado emphasized.
He added that the initiative will be accompanied by an agreement with the Ministry of Education, also with the intention and vision of placing the subject of tourism in national schools due to the importance and leadership achieved by the industry in the country.
“If we are thinking about competitiveness and sustainability, we have to prepare ourselves,” he added.
He stated that, in addition, the Government is in negotiations with an institution in Europe, “since the idea is to generate the project through an international public-private alliance”.
“We are not going to invent careers or subjects from scratch, but to look for an institution that has an international profile, make an alliance with them and, with a public-private alliance, create what would be an unprecedented institution in the country and in the region”, he explained.
Training for better service
The minister emphasized that the decision to train and, above all, prepare the personnel in a technical manner is to be able to offer the best service, and so that tourism can be sustainable over time. “I firmly believe in educating about tourism, as it is the main industry that the country has developed”.
Also, and within the educational initiatives contemplated by Mitur, is the creation of a Tourist Assistance Center, which integrates the main government offices of the country so that non-resident foreigners have, in one place, access to first-hand information when traveling to the RD.
He detailed that the installation of the center will have 1,000 square meters and will be “the biggest of the whole region”, according to Diario Libre.
“We are going to prepare ourselves to be the strongest tourism power in the region”, said the minister during the 24th edition of the Dominican Annual Tourism Exchange (DATE 2024).
Source: Arecoa.com
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