Brief history of hospitality and accommodation

The hotel industry dates back to ancient times, where the need to exchange
products between different civilizations made merchants travel from one country to
another to carry out this exchange. At first this type of service was free, at this time
for the accommodation for merchants, the kings built shelters for them on the
roads, to encourage commercial exchange and protect the merchants from thieves.
This occurs around 1000 to 500 BC. There were different types of hotels, some of
poor quality and reputation for the poorest people, others of excellent quality, but
only accessible to wealthy people. After the fall of the Roman Empire until the
10th – 11th centuries, the lodging service passed into the hands of the monasteries,
which provided this service out of charity. Hospitality became a voluntary service
and was protected by law, there were also places where this service was provided
in exchange for a value.

From the 12th-13th century, the crusades gave a strong boost to trade, which led to
the end of hospitality and the creation of places dedicated to this which charged for
it. During the 15th-18th centuries there was a great commercial exchange thanks to
the mercantilist system, which generated a development of inns throughout the
cities, but their quality was not very good. The inns were not only frequented by
travelers, they were centers where different activities were carried out, such as
business, members of parliament were elected, the ecclesiastical council met,
among other things.

In the 19th and 20th centuries there was an evolution in the means of transportation
and communications, which increased travel, which led to an evolution of hotels.
The first hotel of modern design was the “badische Hof” built in Germany, it had
an elegant dining room, library and reading room, a series of aspects that were new
for the time. With the appearance of the railway, “termo” hotels appeared in the
stations. In the mid-1800s, corporate-owned and controlled hotels appeared. The
first hotel that appeared was the Grand Hotel built in Paris in 1850, later several
appeared. In 1880 the Ritz and its chain of hotels opened. After 1900 this business
model was followed by the United States. In the mid-19th decade, France exerted a
great influence on the hotel industry and since the 1980s the United States has
done so, with its giant hotels of 500 rooms and more. The hotel industry today is
one of the trillion-dollar industries and in many European countries it already
occupies the first place in the national industry.

Thermalism, pilgrimages at the origin of hospitality and accommodation

The origins of thermalism date back to prehistory, when humans discovered how
injured or sick animals sought healing from natural hot water springs. From that
moment on, thermal water and its therapeutic qualities began to be respected and
venerated as a sacred element, until today.

Thermalism encompasses a series of concepts related to the uses of mineral-

medicinal or natural mineral water – whether thermal or not – from the sea or salt
lake, and all the elements that accompany it, that is, the climate, the sediments of
those waters and Their derivatives.

In the province of Buenos Aires, more precisely in Carhué, this branch of medicine
has been practiced since 1821. At that time, this city was the fashionable
destination to treat diseases of all kinds. Its highly mineralized waters were and are
famous for their similarity to the mineral properties of the Dead Sea.

Anxiety, fatigue, depression, diabetes and smoking are some of the diseases that
can be treated.

Rubén Besagonill, owner of the Hotel Carhué, one of the seven thermal spas in
the city, told Infobae what the process is in those places. "Until now and since the
first hot springs were inaugurated in 1988, water has been brought by tanker truck.
It is a stainless steel tank where 6000 liters of water are transported for the 7 pools
that are available. It is periodically renewed with a filtering and chlorination
procedure. Added to that is the thermalization with underfloor heating in all the
pools so that people can enjoy it all year round."

Maricel Rossi, LALCEC dermatologist and associate member of the Argentine

Society of Dermatology, explains that currently thermal techniques are used to
cure, prevent and avoid ailments. The reasons? During moments of relaxation and
tranquility, the accelerated pace is reduced and energy and vitality are recovered in
a natural and non-aggressive way.

In moments of tranquility, energy and vitality are recovered in a natural and non-
aggressive way.

What are the properties of minerals in water?

– Sulphurous waters rich in sulfur : indicated for rheumatism, osteoarthritis, skin
and mucous membrane conditions. They have a strong anti-allergic, bactericidal
and antiseptic action; they stimulate liver function and defenses; They regulate
circulation and broncho-pulmonary secretion and have an exciting action on the
gastrointestinal glands and bile.

– Chlorinated waters rich in sodium chloride: when they have a concentration

of 1gr/l, they have anti-inflammatory properties and act on the lymphatic system,
stimulating the action of cells and phagocytosis. They also increase secretion and
intestinal movements.

In addition to the physical benefits, thermal water promotes mental relaxation.

– Alkaline waters rich in Oxygen and with a high Ph: they act on metabolic
factors in the body and on the digestive system.

– Ferruginous waters rich in iron: indicated, mainly in deficiency states and liver
ailments, since they improve the globular value and act on the endocrine glands,
genital organs and the urinary system. In addition, they excite the nervous system,
capillary circulation and the functions of the digestive system.

Pilgrimages at the origin of hospitality and accommodation

The genealogy of the pilgrimage is longer than the history of the church, probably
predating the history of the chosen people of the Old Testament. It can be said that
pilgrimage is not only part of Christianity. Even believers of other religions made
pilgrimages and continue to make pilgrimages.

The term religious tourism is a newly created term that was coined in recent
decades.

A pilgrimage is defined as a “journey undertaken to reach a place considered

sacred by the action of God there.” This journey is undertaken for religious reasons
and to perform religious acts of penance or devotion.

The term religious tourism has not only begun to be introduced into secular
terminology but also into ecclesiastical ones. This term was used in the General
Directory for the Pastoral Care of Tourism published by the Apostolic See, that is,
in the main document for the current pastoral care.

Hospitality
It is the quality of welcoming and entertaining guests or strangers with kindness
and generosity. “Hospitality” is translated from the Greek fi ‧ lo ‧ xe ‧ ní ‧ a,
which literally means “love (affection or kindness) to strangers.” In Latin
hospitare, means "to receive as a guest." There are some words with Latin roots
that are closely related such as hospital, hospice and hostel. In each of these words,
the primary meaning centers on a host who welcomes and responds to the needs of
people who are temporarily absent from their homes. The phrase "entertaining as a
guest" involves the host preparing to meet the basic requirements of a guest. The
requirements of a guest are traditionally food, drink and accommodation or shelter.
Additionally, some guests provide some type of entertainment to their guests.
However, entertainment has become a separate large industry that includes some of
the world's largest businesses, such as theme parks, major fairs, musical and sports
shows, festivals and parades. So entertainment is closely associated with travel and
tourism, but it is not a necessary ingredient to satisfy the basic needs of travelers,
what we deal with as part of travel and tourism are food, beverages and
accommodation - the basic elements of hospitality.

Accommodation
Since accommodation is an essential part of the practice of tourism, it is
convenient to study where the word hospitality came from, which in its simplest
form makes us think of a warm welcome.

Over the years, accommodation has been an increasingly essential part of the
development of tourism, although it cannot be established exactly when in history
the first spaces for hospitality were offered and when they began to emerge. the
first conceptions of accommodation.

Broadly speaking, it would seem that the words accommodation and hospitality
have always been linked, especially when talking about tourist activity. Obviously,
there are communities that assume hospitality as something natural and even as
part of their idiosyncrasy, becoming an indispensable element when A tourism
project is planned, which is why this section addresses the meaning and origin of
the words, hospitality, lodging and hotel, as well as the relationship they have with
each other.

Hospitality has been present in different communities around the world, in some
cases as a work of charity, in ancient hospitals at the time of the Crusades or on
other occasions as a security measure (ancient Mesoamerican peoples) since, by
not Knowing people, they considered that they could be pilgrim gods who could
bring good or evil, depending on the treatment they provided them.

BRIEF HISTORY OF HOSPITALITY IN EUROPE

Hotels, as one of the means by which the tourist offer satisfies the demand of the
same tenor, arise with the needs of travelers of each era. It naturally arises that the
first needs were not exactly like those of the beginning of the 21st century, so the
first services for travelers could be found in the so-called "Caravansaries". These
appear in the year 2500 BC and consisted of walls that were raised in the desert as
a kind of wall built with the purpose of protecting caravans and merchants heading
from one place to another from the wind and cold. The first accommodations were
as primitive as those used for permanent housing and most likely these first
travelers set up their tents wherever they wanted, considering that their
communities were of the tribal type (tribes).

On the other hand, it was the merchants who gave more importance to hospitality,
because they wanted to exchange their merchandise for others and within these
exchanges, accommodation was obtained. That is to say, the first merchants from
the time before Christ were the ones who gave economic value for the first time to
the hospitality industry by exchanging their merchandise for the lodging service.
Already in times after Christ, it was the Romans who developed a series of brick-
covered roads in Europe and Asia Minor. For the convenience of travelers, a chain
of accommodations were built along these roads, from Spain to Turkey. In the
Middle Ages, the construction of monasteries and abbeys began, and travelers
began to stay in them in exchange for gifts. Only in Feudalism did the first
movements for pleasure in hunting, fishing and walks begin.

After Feudalism and faced with the impossibility of meeting maintenance costs and
with the historical appearance of the French Revolution, the feudal lords began to
make paid invitations to their castles, emerging the first hotel concept in France.
Let's remember that hotel is a French word that means mansion. However, since
the hotel industry has a close relationship with tourism, it could not be different
from this phenomenon, and its evolution leads us to name the Industrial
Revolution. Only at this time did European taverns begin to combine
accommodation with food and drinks. The atmosphere was still very bad and beds
and/or rooms had to be shared and their rates were high. Due to these poor
comforts, the aristocrats did not wish to share these needs and a series of luxurious
and very expensive structures with private rooms were built for them. These
elegant castles adopted the French word hotel.

It should be noted that their rates far exceeded the possibilities of ordinary
travelers. This historical event revolutionizes social changes and therefore tourism,
beginning its large-scale development in our time. A clear example is the. Spanish
"Paradores", which in a number of 85 castles or medieval buildings"' preserved to
date, originated from the motivation of the Spanish King Alfonso XIII, who, being
a lover of hunting and wanting to have his needs properly satisfied, built a castle
with these characteristics in every place suitable for your activities. From that first
period we find César Ritz, called the father of modern hospitality. It implemented a
series of innovative services for the offer and combined them with a high quality of
services and luxury.

These details did not escape the personalized treatment provided to the guest, who
according to Ritz was the owner of the hotel, while he was staying there. 'He
invented, among other things, the client entry form, where he entered his personal
data and a photograph of the client. After carefully observing that photograph, he
waited for the client in the central room of the hotel and greeted him with his first
name, asking him about the aspects that he had previously noted on the
aforementioned sheet. Already at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of
the 20th century, the United States of America began to appear in the world
context as an economically powerful country, which cannot but be important in
hotel development. As in Europe, the first ventures were family-run and had poor
services, but in the 19th century they began to improve and expand their amenities.

THE BIRTH OF MODERN HOTELS CÉSAR RUIZ

Cesar Ritz is considered the father of modern hospitality, as well as recognized as
the king of hoteliers and the hotelier of kings.
He was born in Niederwald, Switzerland on February 23, 1850. He was the son of
a family of ranchers. He began his career in the hotel industry when he was only 15
years old.

He is a very important character for the industry, since he was in charge of giving a
different approach to the service provided to guests and clients, where luxury
prevailed and standardized services were left aside, with personalization being the
protagonist, now it was about providing a luxury and complete service.
The most important contributions of his management to the hotel industry are:
  Room service
 Bathrooms inside the room
 Larger rooms and more luxurious decoration. Eliminate wallpaper and replace
it with paint, as well as luxurious furniture and decoration.
 Personalized attention
 Hierarchical differentiation of personnel through the use of uniform
 I change the dining rooms for restaurants. He reduced table sizes, serving
fewer diners.
 Sommelier figure
 I established the mentality in the rest of the hoteliers of the service that should
be provided, with specialized and personalized services to the guest.
His career in the hotel world is impeccable. I work in hotels of great importance
and name, such as the Grand Hotel in Nice, the Grand National Hotel in Lucerne
and the Savoy Hotel in London.

CHRONOLOGY OF HOTEL DEVELOPMENT IN THE USA

In the United States, the development of the hotel industry was influenced by the
ancient peoples who inhabited the region and English imperialism.
Forts or fortresses existed for a long time and in general there was a belief that they
had been built by armies, but in reality this was not the case; These buildings were
originally intended to shelter merchants and travelers who went from one state to
another, crossing long distances in stagecoaches or on horseback and which later
became the property of the armed forces.

It is in the year 1770 when the first inns and inns appear, however, it is in 1794
when what could be considered the first hotel in the city, the "City Hotel" with 73
rooms, became the most attractive social center in the metropolis. Similar hotels
were later created in other cities such as Boston, Baltimore and Philadelphia.

For the United States, the year 1829 marked the end of the era of inns and the
beginning of the modern era of hospitality.

The beginning of the 19th century brought with it the growth of the hotel industry,
hotels provided more and better services. One of the precursors of this
development was Ellsworth M. Statler considered the father of the modern and
commercial hotel industry and creator of the hotel chain concept, by including
innovative services in his Buffalo Statler Hotel, and creating a consortium of hotels
that would provide the same quantity and quality of services, later following his
example the Hilton, Sheraton hotels and many others.
At the end of this century there were two other aspects that would influence the
operation of 20th century hotels (William S. Gray 2009):

1. As the country's economy expanded, commercial agents were increasingly

important in the business world. As this group increased in number, an increasing
need developed for hotel accommodation with rooms and services appropriate to
their needs.
requirements.

2. The development of means of transportation made travel more

easy and less expensive. In a society that apparently had more possibilities and
desire to travel, it immediately led to a huge increase
in the number of travelers. Once travel expenses were within
the economic possibilities of the middle class of American society are
became a completely new sector of the traveling public.

At the beginning of the 20th century, it faced the problem of serving a new type of
travelers, trying to resolve the following questions: What type of hotel services did
travel agents need? Could the same hotel serve both traveling agents and middle-
class tourists, or was a different operation necessary to meet their needs? What
rates would attract more people, but also leave profits for the hotel?

Ellsworth M. Statler had foreseen the development of both situations and in 1907
he was already building the Statler Hotel in New York. The opening of this hotel
marked a new era in the North American hotel industry where the most modern
services and numerous amenities at affordable prices were included.

In 1929 when North America suffered the great economic depression, almost 85%
of hotels were placed under receivership or were subjected to some form of
liquidation. It was necessary to grant credits to the administrators so that they
could survive.

By World War II the hotel industry was slowly stabilizing.

The development of this event started the largest movement of

people seen in North America, thousands of Americans joined the armed forces,
others moved to areas where war product factories were located, still others who
coordinated the defense plan considered it necessary to travel to different
headquarters. With this activity booming, hotel demand reached its all-time high,
so it was common to see people sleeping in the lobbies as there were no rooms
available (Gray 2009).

At this time, most hotels lacked trained personnel to provide good service,
however administrators tried to solve this problem by providing internal training
courses.

The prosperity of the hotel industry continued until the 1950s, where although
some more excellent quality hotels were built, the increase in automobile travel
produced a new phenomenon in the field of accommodation, the creation of motels
and motor-cars. Hotels, designed especially for this type of travelers, were
horizontal constructions where the room had a parking space next to it.
The increase in these establishments was extraordinary, such that by the end of the
1950s, hotel and motel associations and the franchise movement began to form.

"Franchises facilitated the boom for individual investors who wanted to dedicate
themselves to this type of business. Although they have all the benefits of chain
operations, a franchise owner, in the long run, is an independent operator—his own
boss" (Gray 2009).

Americans have seen in recent years the evolution and development of the
hotel industry, benefiting from new working conditions (reduction in working
hours, increase in salaries, vacation periods, etc.), the socioeconomic level of the
population and the increase in communication routes and means of transportation.

Hotels have made enormous progress in terms of the increase and quality of the
services provided and the innovative and functional administrative system they
manage, to such an extent that there are few hotels that work independently, the
vast majority have joined to highly prestigious chains worldwide or to a franchise,
whose brand is a guarantee of quality and good service.

GREAT HOTELS AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT IN THE LAST

CENTURY
A comfortable bed, a clean bathroom or a good view are no longer the only
priorities when choosing accommodation. Today's guest demands free wifi, spa
and good cuisine. And hoteliers meet expectations
In recent years, arriving at the hotel and finding a comfortable room and a clean
bathroom does not leave customers completely satisfied. Today's tourist has
traveled a lot and is more experienced to inform himself and compare some resorts
with others. For this reason, travelers demand a complementary offer of services
such as spa, free Wi-Fi, 24-hour room services, etc. «This has made us innovate a
lot in the design of our products to try to impact the customer. We take care of all
the details that surround it: music, gastronomy, smells...», they say from Meliá
Hotels International.

"In Paradores, in the 60s, the availability of hot, cold and running water in the
rooms was announced..., this service is now evident, but before it was an added
value and a differentiating factor for the brand," says Javier Blanco, Head of
Marketing at Paradores. "Right now the challenge is to reinvent the offer day by
day," he adds.

If we look at a travel catalog or a website, we see that the diversity of hotels has
increased. Specialized in golf, health and beauty; all-inclusive family resorts;
hotels only for adults, cultural, business, related to gastronomy..., endless options
for the guest to find a trip according to their needs; since age, type of life, and the
type of trip you want to take will influence when making your decision.
Gastronomy is one of the things that is being taken care of a lot. "The hospitality
industry has stopped turning its back on gastronomy," explains Blanco. Alliances
with great chefs have allowed accommodations to improve their positioning. While
in Europe many of the great restaurants were located in the big hotels in the cities,
in Spain this was unthinkable. Furthermore, the fact that many did not have access
from the street made customers somewhat afraid of entering them. "This has
changed. If we know how to do something in this country, it is tourism, so we must
continue fighting to improve and to ensure that this business continues to be one of
the ones that generates the most wealth and employment," argue sources from
Barceló Hotels & Resorts.

"But it is not only enough to have a good product or provide quality services;
today the old 'word of mouth' has regained a lot of importance," says Blanco. "I
think we are in a new and exciting scenario in which new clients take center stage,"
he adds. "The current offer is so broad that to stand out in the market, connect and
build customer loyalty, it is necessary to focus on product differentiation and
segmentation, that is, defining a personalized offer," explains Meliá Hotels
International.

BACKGROUND OF HOTEL COMPANIES IN THE DOMINICAN

REPUBLIC
Although it is said that Vikings and other ancient travelers visited the island of
Quisqueya, this has remained mere speculation, due to the lack of known concrete
facts. History shows that indeed the Spanish, in 1492, were the first known
external visitors to this island. Thus we can confirm, then, that the first visitors to
set foot on this land were Columbus and his companions on his first trip to
America. With them begins the history of tourism in the Dominican Republic.

Since the arrival of the Spanish until the seizure of political power by General
Trujillo Molina in 1930, statistics on the tourism sector in the Dominican Republic
are uncertain, if not non-existent. It is known that in 1930 230 foreign tourists
arrived in the country. This figure is the only information we have had access to.

Trujillo, in the 1940s, gave instructions, and this was done, to carry out the first
international tourism promotions, this being the first concrete step to attract tourists
to the country.

The decades of the forties and fifties show the concrete definition of a well-defined
tourism policy for the time, as far as hotel constructions in the country are
concerned.

In 1944, the Jaragua Hotel was inaugurated on the boardwalk of the capital city,
the first luxury hotel facility. Later, in the fifties, the Provincial hotel was
inaugurated, today converted into a children's hospital; The La Paz hotel, today
Hispaniola, was built a few meters away and also, in the Colonial Zone, the
Commercial hotel was built, this being the first private capital hotel in the country.

Beauty, sumptuousness and modernism at its finest was in the construction of the
Hotel El Embajador. However, the construction of quality hotels was not limited to
the capital's geography. The interior of the country was also the setting for large
hotel facilities at the time.

In Santiago the Hotel Matun made its appearance; The Guarocuya Hotel was built
in Barahona; The Maguana Hotel was established in San Juan de la Maguana. The
Hotel San Cristóbal was built in the province of the same name.

The Montaña and Switzerland hotels were inaugurated in Jarabacoa and

Constanza, respectively. The Caoba Hotel was established in Mao, Valverde
province. The Marien Hotel was built in Santiago Rodríguez.

The hotel construction fever also arrived in the eastern part of the country. The
Hotel Macorís was installed in San Pedro de Macorís; El Barajo was inaugurated in
Higuey. The Hotel Santa Cruz was installed in El Seibo, while the Hotel Cayacoa
was built in Samaná.

These hotel constructions mark a milestone in Dominican tourist history. The

facilities included more than 1000 hotel rooms. Now the country needs an
international promotion policy to attract large tourist flows from the rest of the
world.

In 1955, the Fair of Peace and Brotherhood of the Free World was inaugurated, an
international event celebrated by Trujillo to show its great advances in physical
constructions and show the world that the Dominican Republic indeed lived in a
climate of peace and brotherhood. This fair lasted until 1958.

It is necessary to clarify that the period that covers the years between 1944 and
1958 marks the stage of growth of tourism in the Dominican Republic.

The invasion of Constanza, Maimón and Estero Hondo in 1959, the crime of the
Mirabal sisters in 1960 and the death of Trujillo in 1961 drove tourism away from
the country. The political instability and social upheavals that culminated in the
civil war in 1965 and the subsequent military occupation by the North American
Marines turned the history of tourism in the country black.
We had to wait until 1966, when a new government was elected in general
elections and the institutions returned to the country's properties so that tourism
could be reborn from its ashes. Doctor Joaquín Balaguer, who would govern the
country for the next 12 years (1966 - 1978) would be in charge of producing the
economic policies necessary to make tourism a sector with its own name and
surname.

In 1968, tourism legislation was produced that declared tourism development of

national interest. A year later, in 1969, the National Tourism Directorate was
created. In 1971, Law 153 on tourism incentives and promotion was enacted. In
1972, INFRATUR was created, a financial organization for the development of
tourist infrastructure. These events served as a basis for tourism to have a starting
point for its subsequent development.

In conclusion, the decade of the seventies marks what is called the period of
development of tourism in the Dominican Republic. Since then, the dimensions of
tourism are so eloquent that today, as the 1990s enters its middle part, tourism is
the economic sector that generates the most foreign exchange for the country, far
surpassing all the foreign exchange generated by the country. export sector of
traditional and non-traditional goods.

 Tourism today

At this time, what is most developed in the area of tourism is the housing capacity
due to agreements and foreign consultancies. Consequently, the number of hotel
rooms in the 1980s was 8,562 and in the 1990s it was 45,000.

In 1997, around 270,830 tourists arrived by sea, of which 156,099 used the ports
located in Santo Domingo, 5,566 in Puerto Plata, 108,698 disembarked in La
Romana, 404 in Samaná and only 63 cruise passengers. They did it for Boca Chica.
Compared with those of 1996, these figures show that last year the number of
foreign visitors who used the sea route increased by more than one hundred
percent.

In 1996, 110,936 arrived in the Dominican Republic by sea, a number that

increased to 270,380 cruise passengers.

Despite not having any type of financial incentive for ecotourism activities, it is in
its true splendor. The above is confirmed by the annual statistics for visits to
ecotourism companies and protected areas, which exceed 800,000 people. We
quote the following data, corresponding to the year 1998: the total number of
visitors to ecotourism projects was 930,000.

Along with everything mentioned above, a large number of agencies have emerged
in the country, which are in charge of making excursions throughout the country.

HOTEL COMPANIES: PRESENT AND FUTURE IN THE DOMINICAN

REPUBLIC

Tourism today

At this time, what is most developed in the area of tourism is the housing capacity
due to agreements and foreign consultancies. Consequently, the number of hotel
rooms in the 1980s was 8,562 and in the 1990s it was 45,000.

In 1997, around 270,830 tourists arrived by sea, of which 156,099 used the ports
located in Santo Domingo, 5,566 in Puerto Plata, 108,698 disembarked in La
Romana, 404 in Samaná and only 63 cruise passengers. They did it for Boca Chica.
Compared with those of 1996, these figures show that last year the number of
foreign visitors who used the sea route increased by more than one hundred
percent.

In 1996, 110,936 arrived in the Dominican Republic by sea, a number that

increased to 270,380 cruise passengers.

Despite not having any type of financial incentive for ecotourism activities, it is in
its true splendor. The above is confirmed by the annual statistics for visits to
ecotourism companies and protected areas, which exceed 800,000 people. We
quote the following data, corresponding to the year 1998: the total number of
visitors to ecotourism projects was 930,000.

Along with everything mentioned above, a large number of agencies have emerged
in the country, which are in charge of making excursions throughout the country.
Future of tourism in the Dominican Republic

If the Dominican Republic wants to maintain its position as a regional tourism

leader, it must address the new challenges on the horizon. Additionally, if the
country expects to welcome 10 million tourists by 2022, or even significantly
increase tourist visits, these challenges will become even more important as the
acquisition and management of new capabilities requires detailed planning and
careful alliances.
Considered the most visited island in the Caribbean, the Dominican Republic
receives more than 5.5 million tourists a year. According to the World Travel and
Tourism Council (WTTC), tourism generates 16% of the country's GDP and
creates almost 15% of its jobs. This sector is a priority for the Dominican
government and President Danilo Medina has set the goal of reaching 10 million
tourists in 2022. Without a doubt, tourism has created enormous opportunities for
the Dominican Republic: above-average growth and relative economic stability,
the flow of foreign direct investment, and technical capacity, employment and
social mobility opportunities, in addition of a global reputation as the island that
“has it all”. However, to maintain this growth, the country must invest in its
education system, diversify its tourism products and improve the management of
its environment.
Human capital deficiencies
As the Dominican tourism sector has grown, the professional capacity of its
employees has expanded, as have the hiring requirements of its companies. Access
to quality public education remains a critical problem in the Dominican Republic;
A UNESCO survey in 2010 ranked the quality of primary education in the
Dominican Republic as the worst in Central America and the Caribbean. The
industry's hiring requirements have become increasingly demanding over the past
fifteen years, making it more difficult for those without an eighth-grade education
or high school diploma to enter the industry. Once a hotel hires, additional training
and educational opportunities are available, but the required benchmarks have
increased significantly, presenting a barrier to employment for people from lower
socioeconomic groups. If public education is not improved, the tourism industry
will face a shortage of human capital, and relatively well-paying jobs in the
hospitality sector will continue to be restricted to a small segment of the
Dominican population.
The “all-inclusive” model prevails
The tourism sector is highly autonomous, given that the majority of tourists stay in
resorts that include everything and under the formula of pre-paid packages, and
that the tourist complexes are concentrated in four key areas: Puerto Plata, La
Romana, Santo Domingo and Punta Cana. Although it generates a considerable
number of jobs and links with the agricultural sector, the “all-inclusive” model still
faces the important challenge of the dispersion of tourist spending. In Punta Cana,
tourists spend around $30 a day outside their tourist center. By contrast, in Cancun,
tourists spend $110 per day. In Punta Cana, there is little reason for tourists to want
to leave their resorts (the offering of local restaurants, entertainment venues,
shopping destinations and other tourist attractions is limited) while Cancun has
carefully cultivated these offerings . If there is no mechanism to develop and
expand tourism, Dominican communities will continue to lose this important
source of income. Public-private partnerships need to be formed to create the
infrastructure to get tourists out of their resorts and explore local communities,
thereby disseminating tourism dollars and creating better links to the local
economy.
Environmental concerns
Especially on the eastern coast, environmental concerns include effects on coral
reefs, beaches, and local flora and fauna. Inadequate zoning causes deforestation
and erosion, which, in turn, destroy coral reefs through sedimentation and
desertification. As one industry observer explained to me, “We are at a point where
we are losing our treasure (the main attraction of this area), which is the beach.” In
the rest of the country, the expansion of tourist activities threatens the delicate
biodiversity of the island. Although the situation is improving, the Dominican
government has proven to have limited capacity to address environmental
problems. The Ministry of the Environment was created in 2000 and before that it
was the Ministry of Agriculture that was in charge of these activities. As a young
institution, it is effectively carrying out its regulatory “catch-up” functions:
establishments that were completed before 2000 are undergoing a registration
process to ensure they comply with standards. regulations regarding conservation
and sustainability that have been established since then.
If the Dominican Republic is to maintain its position as a regional tourism leader, it
must address the new challenges on the horizon as tourist tastes shift away from its
all-inclusive offering and as Cuba offers a new destination for American tourists
for the first time in decades. Additionally, if the country expects to welcome 10
million tourists by 2022, or even significantly increase tourist visits, these
challenges will become even more important as the acquisition and management of
new capabilities requires detailed planning and careful alliances.