Asonahores wants tourism's impact to reach every Dominican

On World Tourism Day, the Dominican Republic's Hotel and Tourism Association (Asonahores) dropped a line that sounds like a statement of intent but is really a roadmap: "Our commitment is that tourism's impact reaches every Dominican". The hotel association, as reported by Arecoa, puts the spotlight on something the sector has repeated for years but which does not always translate into numbers visible to the average citizen.

The Dominican tourism industry is today one of the country's fiscal engines. We are talking about more than 10 billion dollars a year in foreign currency, a contribution to GDP hovering around 15% and tax collection through ITBIS, airport fees and municipal levies that sustains a good part of the budgets of provinces such as La Altagracia, Samaná, Puerto Plata and La Romana. That is the ground where Asonahores' speech is truly measured.

The challenge is distribution. Punta Cana, Bávaro and the eastern zone concentrate most of the hotel investment and formal employment, while other provinces with real tourism product are still waiting for infrastructure and promotion. The reading is clear: if the impact does not reach Pedernales, Barahona, Monte Cristi or Sánchez Ramírez, the promise is only half kept. That is where coordination between MITUR, the trade bodies and the city councils has room to grow, and where Asonahores can move from slogan to concrete plan.