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Recently, the La Romana-Bayahibe Tourism Cluster hosted a “dinner-conference” entitled “Adapting La Romana – Bayahibe to target new emerging markets” and it was fascinating, with the over-riding message being – THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC NEEDS TO DEVELOP AS A BRAND.
Despite the still struggling world economy, the tourism industry continues to grow – everywhere. All across the world new resorts, hotels, attractions and even entire destinations are popping up and more choice means more competition, so it is important to take action NOW to make sure the Dominican Republic has something extra special to offer and attract tourists.
The talk was led by Elizabeth Tovar, the administrative director of the Association of Tourist Operations in the Dominican Republic (OPETUR) and highlighted some very interesting points – which everyone in the tourism business could learn from!
A few of the most important points were:
• The growth of worldwide tourism
Tourism from countries such as China, Russia and Brazil is set to grow by up to 300% in the next 10 years. Are you and your company prepared to cater to these cultures? Can you speak these languages?
• Sun and Sand
The primary attraction of the Dominican Republic to tourists is SUN and SAND and whilst the Casa de Campo resort has an excellent brand as is very well known for golf, what else does the rest of the country have to offer besides SUN and SAND? With the growth of the industry, there are destinations all across the world that offer SUN and SAND and unless you want to compete on price, tourists need to be attracted by other attractions – such as sports, luxury lifestyle and golf offered in Casa de Campo.
• Branding and Recognition
Even if a tourists main focus of a vacation is SUN and SAND, they love to experience the culture of a country (even if it is a little convoluted). For example, when you think of Mexico you think of Mariachi, Sombreros, temples, tequila, tropical colors as well as of course sun and sand! The Dominican Republic needs to develop a brand like this!
A few ways in which Casa de Campo is already doing this are:
• tourists arriving at the La Romana – Casa de Campo airport are greeted by Dominican merengue dancers
• dancers in traditional costumes can be found in Altos de Chavón
• guests can dance to live merengue music at the La Caña restaurant and lounge at the Casa de Campo hotel every Friday and Saturday night
By the end of the talk, the guests, who were mostly members of the La Romana – Bayahibe Tourism Cluster were amazed and inspired to continue to develop the Dominican Republic as a top tourist destination. What can you do to inspire change?
Ana Garcia, Daniel Flaquer, Elisabeth Tovar and Philip Silvestri
A fantastic evening, which ended with a dinner catered by “Eventos y Catering.”
