During 2023, the DR experienced an increase in its relevance as a tourist destination in the Caribbean region and Mexico, reaching a 12.03% share of tourist arrivals by air and land.
According to statistics provided by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), this increase represents a growth of 1.9 percentage points compared to 2010, when the participation stood at 10.13%.
Jacqueline Mora, technical vice-minister of the Ministry of Tourism, considered that the portfolio in which she works can indeed speak of records and that, in terms of market share, the country changed the decline for growth.
“We have improved our participation in world tourism. We have gone from 51st to 30th place. Do you know why that is important? You can’t measure yourself with the numbers of before, you are going to measure yourself with how good you were versus your competition and what happened? Breaking records. You know what the definition of record is. The highest you’ve ever seen. This is the highest we’ve been able to see,” during an interview on the “Siendo Honestos” program.
He added that “we are better than many countries in the Caribbean, more than in the entire region and even in the world. Yes, we have better institutional and tourism spending indicators. It would be an analytical failure to base myself on one indicator, the real thing is to see everything in that context. And I am going to tell you something, being honest, I believe that a spectacular management has been done and not because I have been part of the team”.
Mora deepened in the analysis of the existing distrust in some sectors of the country with respect to the data that reflect the results in the tourist field. Mora linked this distrust to what she described as “the impostor syndrome”.
According to her, this phenomenon manifests itself when, despite evident achievements, the population and local actors doubt the effectiveness of the strategies implemented. “Sometimes, the policy is disguised as imposter syndrome,” Mora pointed out.
In this context, the deputy minister stressed the importance of unraveling and transparently communicating the positive impact tourism management has had in the DR, overcoming misperceptions and demonstrating tangible progress in the sector.
Mora considered that the political cycle has also influenced the debate of whether it is visitors or tourists that have come to the country in the last three years.
“One of the ministry’s strategies is to make all kinds of information available. So, every time you give people more information, people ask for more.
That means you are doing the job right. I believe that in the last 40 years the DR has taken giant steps forward. I mean, maybe we are not advancing at the pace we would like, but I think we are definitely advancing and in this administration, in these last four years, as well as in other four and in other four, in other four, in other four, positive steps have been taken. You cannot say no in terms of tourism. I tell people, look, it is not that more tourists come and that’s it.
It is that we have a bigger share of the world pie. Because if the world is growing, of course, there will be more tourists. Now the market share has increased significantly. And part of the reason why it has increased is because outwardly we have not had that impostor syndrome,” he explained.
Source: Mitur.com
