Cultural Tourism Plan Presented for the Dominican Republic

The Ministry of Culture and the National Competitiveness Council presented a Strategic Plan for Cultural Tourism which aims to position the country’s cultural and natural elements as a new niche of the marketing structure to be undertaken in alliance with the private sector and the government. The main objective is to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants of cities that are connected to the cultural resources through direct and indirect employment.

…The initiative was introduced by the Ministry of Culture with the support of the National Competitiveness Council (CNC) which, with funding from the Competitiveness Fund, hired specialists to work on the strategy….

The initiative was introduced by the Ministry of Culture with the support of the National Competitiveness Council (CNC) which, with funding from the Competitiveness Fund, hired specialists to work on the strategy. Jordi Tresserras, Coordinator of Cultural Management courses at the University of Barcelona, and Juan Carlos Matamala, Project Coordinator of Cultural Tourism of the Cultural Management Unit also of the University of Barcelona were contracted.

This initiative, through a strategy of diversification, seeks to increase the number of tourists who come to the Dominican Republic on vacation by strengthening and emphasizing the cultural and natural aspects of the country as a compliment or alternative to the traditional sun and beach tourism, according to a CNC press release.

The proposal seeks to see the country in a situation where it will continue to benefit from the profit potential of world growth but will diversify and seek a broader market while increasing the country’s quota of visitors from emerging markets.

Jaime Moreno, senior advisor of the National Competitiveness Council, said the plan is characterized by its efforts to become integrated into the country’s sustainable tourism policy that will promote the worth of the nation’s cultural and natural elements.

More importantly, that plan is viable and takes into consideration realistic possibilities for the promotion and commercialization of the Dominican Republic, constituting a great opportunity for social inclusion of small businesses which in turn will augment the level of competitiveness needed for Dominican tourism.

“With this plan we are presenting today, we hope to position the country’s national and cultural heritage products in the tourism market place thus contributing to the sustainable development of local collectives through the generation of their economic and social well being,” said Mr. Moreno. This will allow us to achieve an improvement in the country’s tourism competitiveness through the promotion, commercialization and integration of the elements linked to our culture and nature, he continued.

“We are supporting, with this tool, the bidirectional participation of the public and private sectors on a national and local level as well as the integration of the tourism clusters which will allow local populations to take advantage of and benefit from this plan,” he added.

…“We are supporting, with this tool, the bidirectional participation of the public and private sectors on a national and local level as well as the integration of the tourism clusters which will allow local populations to take advantage of and benefit from this plan,”…

Included among the activities to be developed with this plan is to educate the leaders in tourism development as to the country’s cultural tourism potential, including the areas of eco-tourism and community tourism.

When the Strategic Plan is implemented, “the cultural tourism products selected must be commercialized under the umbrella of the Dominican Republic, that is to say, within a strategy that uses a Country Brand,” reads a National Competitiveness Council document.

The proposed activities for implementation will be carried out over the course of the next two years in order to position the cultural wealth of the Dominican Republic in a variety of markets. The main participants of cultural tourism proposed the placing of these cultural products in the North American market, although before doing so, specific market studies must be done.