The Chinese Republic of Taiwan is looking to boost its interchange with the Dominican Republic, taking advantage of the diversity of the DR’s attractive tourism offerings and the growing popularity of Merengue and Bachata in the their country.

He emphasized that, as a tourism destination, the DR has great diversity and is very attractive to people in his country because of its beaches, fishing, ecotourism and colonial history...

Following a meeting with Dominican Tourism Minister Félix Jiménez, Taiwanese Ambassador in the DR, Isaac Tsai gave a statement while at the Tourism Ministry office. “With my arrival to the country, I would like to promote the tourism sector, Dominican tourism from Taiwan, and for that reason I came here to visit the Minister to exchange opinions and ideas on how we are going to promote it.”

He emphasized that, as a tourism destination, the DR has great diversity and is very attractive to people in his country because of its beaches, fishing, ecotourism and colonial history, according to the Office of Press and Communications.

"The DR has beaches, mountains, history, culture; you have the first university, the first church [on the American continent] and attractive activities for tourists from Taiwan such as fishing. Tourists from Taiwan are very interested in fishing. In addition, the people of Taiwan want something new and I think the Merengue and the Bachata are also very attractive,” affirmed the diplomat.

He went on to explain that Taiwanese people travel “all over the world but they didn’t really know the Dominican Republic,” which is why the travel agents and airlines needs to work hard to familiarize this new market with the DR and all its offerings. “We want to work here with travel agencies and airlines so that they will get together and offer package deals.”

In the summer of 2007, 8.9 million Taiwanese people traveled outside their country, stated Ambassador Tsai who assumed his position at the embassy four months ago.

Taiwan represents booming market of nearly 23 million people, with a growing economy on the world market. Last year 871 Taiwanese visited the DR and this year, between January and May 2008, another 344 visited from this Asian island, according to Central Bank data.

Félix Jiménez, Dominican Minister of Tourism, and Isaac Tsai, Taiwanese Ambassador in the Dominican Republic.