Frank Rainieri: "DR cannot rest on its laurels in tourism"
He feels with the opening of relations between the US and Cuba, the DR could lose part of its market
Amílcar Nivar
SD. The President of the Punta Cana Group, said yesterday that the Dominican Republic, due to the fact that it is the leader in tourism in the Caribbean, cannot "rest on its laurels," because with the normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba, hundreds of thousands of American tourists could go to that market.
"For more than four decades, Cuba has been the forbidden fruit for the American tourists, who are our major market, so that we can expect that hundreds of thousands will shift towards there," indicated Frank Rainieri.
Taking part as the keynote speaker at the American Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Rainieri stressed that he is not afraid of the competition, because the Dominican tourist industry was born competing.
He recalled that the primary competition of the tourist industry was against the local impediments, and later on against all the international scenarios. "It (tourism) did not reach 5 million tourists and more than 68,000 rooms by happenstance," said Rainieri, in order to emphasize the strength of the Dominican tourist sector.
Nevertheless, the businessman confessed that what he does fear is that Dominicans will ignore how it wass that the tourist industry has reached the point in which it is to be found at the present time.
He stressed that the direct and indirect contribution of tourism to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the Dominican Republic in 2014 was 15.1%, according to preliminary numbers of the yearly analysis by the University of Oxford for the World Travel and Tourism Council, and not 7.6% as the Central Bank had published, which, according to Rainieri, does not cover the participation of all of the industry.
X-rays
Before the participation by Rainieri, Gustavo Tavarez, the first vice president of the AmchamDR, said that he considered that the contract between the State and the ICCSI company ratified by the Congress to install and operate x-rays in the ports of the country is unconstitutional, and he expects that the Constitutional Tribunal will not favor monopolies.
"For more than four decades, Cuba has been the forbidden fruit for the American tourists, who are our major market, so that we can expect that hundreds of thousands will shift towards there," indicated Frank Rainieri.
Taking part as the keynote speaker at the American Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Rainieri stressed that he is not afraid of the competition, because the Dominican tourist industry was born competing.
He recalled that the primary competition of the tourist industry was against the local impediments, and later on against all the international scenarios. "It (tourism) did not reach 5 million tourists and more than 68,000 rooms by happenstance," said Rainieri, in order to emphasize the strength of the Dominican tourist sector.
Nevertheless, the businessman confessed that what he does fear is that Dominicans will ignore how it wass that the tourist industry has reached the point in which it is to be found at the present time.
He stressed that the direct and indirect contribution of tourism to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the Dominican Republic in 2014 was 15.1%, according to preliminary numbers of the yearly analysis by the University of Oxford for the World Travel and Tourism Council, and not 7.6% as the Central Bank had published, which, according to Rainieri, does not cover the participation of all of the industry.
X-rays
Before the participation by Rainieri, Gustavo Tavarez, the first vice president of the AmchamDR, said that he considered that the contract between the State and the ICCSI company ratified by the Congress to install and operate x-rays in the ports of the country is unconstitutional, and he expects that the Constitutional Tribunal will not favor monopolies.
Amílcar Nivar
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