USDA: Dominican agro exports went from US$709M to US$969M

Santo Domingo.- The Minister of Agriculture, Limber Cruz, assured that agricultural exports to the United States increased by 37% in the first five months of the year.

The injection of capital at zero rate through the Agricultural Bank, adequate planting planning, improvement of inter-parcel roads and irrigation canals, are part of the initiatives carried out by the Government “that reflected favorable results in the reactivation of the agricultural sector.”

According to a press release from the Ministry of Agriculture, statistics from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), show that “exports to that country went from US$709 to 969 million, compared to the same period last year.”

Progressive increase: Hotel occupancy in Dominican Republic almost 65% in August

ACCORDING TO THE STATISTICS OF THE MITUR IN CONJUNCTION WITH ASONAHORES

In mid-August, the Ministry of Tourism (Mitur) arranged for hotels to open 100% of their rooms, and currently, 87.5% of hotels have opened their doors.

According to Mitur statistics, the Dominican Republic hotel’s occupancy rate continued to grow in August 2021 compared to July.

In August, the hotel occupancy rate in the country was 64.80%, only 0.40 higher than the 64.40% of July 2021.

While the Occupancy Rate January-August 2021 was 50.60%. For the same period of 2020, the hotel occupancy rate in the country in January-August was 30.4%, as published by the Central Bank on its website. Data was provided from the Association of Hotels and Tourism of the Dominican Republic(Asonahores).

In the first eight months of 2021, Romana-Bayahibe was the area that registered the highest occupancy rate (57.80%), followed by Boca Chica-Juan Dolio (53.50%) and Santo Domingo (52.0%).

Meanwhile, Bávaro-Punta Cana had an occupation of 51.70%, Santiago 50.10%, Samaná 46.50%, Puerto Plata 45.40%, Sosúa-Cabarete 43.20%.

For the same period, but from the last pre-pandemic year of 2019, the average hotel occupancy rate January-August 2019 in DR was an average of 74.1%, equivalent to 6.4% less than in the same period of the year 2018 that registered an average hotel occupancy rate of 79.1%”, according to the monthly report of the tourist association Asonahores.

This decline was caused by the reputational crisis unleashed in the United States from May, by sensationalized and hyperbolized reports of natural deaths that year.

It should be noted that Mitur ordered that hotels open at 100% of their capacity but maintaining social distancing measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 on August 16.

In resolution DJ-022/2021, Mitur established a 90% vehicle capacity for transporting employees and tourists and the occupation in excursions, maritime transport, and water activities at 85%, a measure that could be modified according to the evolution of the Covid-19 situation.

The resolution maintains as mandatory the use of masks within public and private enclosed spaces for public use. In addition, establishments must ensure that social distancing is maintained between people who are inside them.

Recovery leads to shortages of workers

Ironic post-pandemic problems

Which “may seem contrary to logic,” the post-pandemic recovery is causing a labor shortage, “causing wages to rise and the correlation of forces tilting in favor of workers for the first time in decades,” says Katherine Davidson, global equity manager at Schroders.

In the case of the US, half of the companies have difficulty filling one or more jobs. The situation is similar in the UK. In the case of Spain, specific problems have appeared in the construction, plumbing, masonry, and hospitality sectors, although in this case, only in particular parts of the country and on certain dates (tourist season).

Some companies are desperate. Davidson explains that companies are resorting to unusual and unprecedented methods to attract workers.

Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas passes test to restart operations

IT IS THE FIRST CRUISE SHIP TO LEAVE CAPE LIBERTY SINCE 2020

Last Sunday, September 5, another historic milestone was marked for Royal Caribbean. It was a triple celebration. 

First, the ship, the Oasis of the Seas, began sailing with passengers, from Cape Liberty, in New Jersey, en route to The Bahamas and Florida.

On the one hand, the crossing means that it successfully passed the simulated test cruise it made in August, and on the other, it is the largest ship that departs from that port near New York—additionally, it is the first to leave from that region since March 2020.

“We sailed on the simulated cruise, one in which the ship sailed with less than 30% of its capacity, but where all the strict hygiene and safety protocol of passengers and crew was tested,” the company said.

The ship sailed for six nights, to Coco Cay, Royal Caribbean’s private island in the Bahamas. Coco Cay was then the only destination permitted since the vessel was to receive the certificate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) that would allow it to visit other ports and travel with regular passengers, according to El Nuevo Dia.

“This trip was not only about complying with the measures required by the CDC but overcoming them. As you have seen during the voyage, our protocols go much further and include the recommendations of our “Healthy Sail Panel,” said Mark Tamis, senior vice president of Hotel and Operations who was onboard.

He stressed that he feels as safe on the ship as anywhere else and that he took his 83-year-old mother in passing just because he knows it’s a secure environment.

The executive meant that the measures were notoriously strict throughout the ship, and everyone was ready to put them into practice. As a result, the health panel established 74 recommendations, many of which were well known to passengers and others behind the scenes and already put into effect.

“On our trip, in which there were also unidentified CDC personnel, a full vaccination card and negative Covid-19 test were requested within 72 hours before the trip,” he added.

Dominican Republic expects 4.8M+ tourists by year end

Santo Domingo .– The ominican Republic will receive 4,840,376 tourists by the end of this year, a figure still distant from the 6,446,036 non-resident foreigners who arrived in 2019 (prepandemic year).

On Wed. Tourism minister David Collado said that between January and August 2021 2,938,200 tourists arrived in the country and he projected that, from October to December, “if everything continues normal within the pandemic,” 1,552,621 visitors will arrive at national destinations.

He said that last August 476,575 non-residents arrived in Dominican territory, a figure close to that registered in the same month of 2019, when 497,390 tourists entered.

“We are going to end the year at 4,840,376 (tourists), which is a number that we could never imagine we would be able to have in 2021. We are giving clear signals that tourism is recovering in a sustainable way in the Dominican Republic.”

Dominican Republic tourism recovery advances: average occupancy near 70%

WITH 73 THOUSAND ROOMS IN OPERATION

The country’s tourism sector currently has 73,000 rooms in operation, which averages an occupancy of 69% and shows the recovery that the industry continues to register little by little.

The addition of more rooms will depend on how the countries that emit tourists are opening their market to the Dominican Republic.

The information was offered by the Minister of Tourism, David Collado, and the president of the National Association of Hotels and Restaurants(Asonahores), Rafael Blanco Tejera, after announcing the start of a vaccination program to apply the third dose against covid-19 to employees of the country’s tourism sector.

Collado pointed out that in Puerto Plata, where more European tourists go, and in Bayahibe, frequented by Italians, they are the markets in which fewer rooms are available.

While Blanco Tjera indicated that Russia and Canada have already announced the opening of their borders, in the coming months, he understands, to the extent that these markets are reactivated, the destinations that depend on the nations mentioned above will open their rooms.

“The north coast of the country depends mainly on European markets that were closed, not by the Dominican Republic, but by their own decision,” he added, according to Hoy.

Dominican Repubic will apply third dose of covid vaccine to all employees in tourism sector

TO BE ABLE TO CONTINUE STRENGTHENING THE COUNTRY’S TOURISM RECOVERY

 More than 150,000 doses of Pfizer will be applied

The Tourism Cabinet, headed by the Ministry of Tourism(Mitur), the Vice Presidency of the Republic, and the Association of Hotels and Tourism of the Dominican Republic(Asonahores), announced the immediate start of a vaccination program to apply the third dose to all employees of the tourism sector.

The Minister of Tourism, David Collado, the president of Asonahores, Rafael Blanco Tejera, as well as other members of the Cabinet, explained that more than 150 thousand doses of Pfizervaccines for Covid-19 would be applied, which seeks the herd immunity of all people who provide tourist services in the country.

“The Dominican tourism sector is the leader in terms of recovery in the world and with this vaccination program we will continue to strengthen the safety and health of all those who work in the sector in order to also guarantee the safety and health of all tourists who visit us,” Collado said.

Meanwhile, the president of Asonahores thanked, during the event of the announcement of the measure made at the Intercontinental hotel, the Health and Tourism cabinets for all the actions they have taken to guarantee the sector’s recovery.

“Our hotels, restaurants and partners will continue to work hand in hand with the authorities, of which we are very grateful, to be able to continue strengthening the tourist recovery of our country and that they continue to open more and more rooms, more flights, more tours that dynamize the national economy,” said Blanco Tejera.

The public and private sectors will not rest until herd immunity against Covid-19 is achieved.

So far there are more than 10 million doses applied in the country, and these 150 thousand third doses in the tourism sector strengthen the already low incidence of Covid-19 in the tourist poles of the country so that we can continue to highlight the effects of the pandemic successfully.

The third-dose vaccination program will involve all the actors that are part of the country’s tourism ecosystem and will support the staff of the Ministry of Health of the Dominican Republic.

Currently, the incidence in the tourist poles of the country is one of the lowest in the entire continent, and the Dominican Republic is the only nation in the world where all personnel working in the tourism sector have at least two doses of vaccines.

France’s Corsair increases flights to Punta Cana due to its success

IT WILL OPERATE A THIRD WEEKLY FREQUENCY FROM PARIS

 Demand from tourists and tour operators skyrockets in this link

 The leading tourist destination in dr strengthens its popularity

Dominican tourism is recovering at an accelerated pace, attracting new markets, as is the case of the French, who are beginning to discover Punta Cana. In the middle of the pandemic, on December 11, Corsair, the French airline that Tui once owned, started flying to the airport in the east of the island. Before this, their Caribbean destinations spoke French.

Things went so well that now Corsair announces a third weekly frequency from Paris, obviously because the public responded as no one expected. Corsair flights depart and return to Orly, in the southwest of Paris, according to Preferente.com.

From February 3, Corsair will expand its presence in the Dominican Republic. “The reinforcement of our presence will allow us to respond to the demand of both individual customers and the tour operators that market this destination,” said Julien Houdebine, the airline’s commercial director.

France did not usually visit these Spanish-speaking destinations, preferring Martinique and Guadeloupe, French overseas territories. The British, on the other hand, who do travel to Spanish-speaking countries, usually have a particular preference for islands such as the Bahamas, Jamaica, or Antigua, all of them Anglophone. Germans, on the other hand, usually travel to Spanish-speaking destinations without problems.

Smooth sail for E-ticket in Dominican airports

Santo Domingo.- Airports manager Aerodom yesterday reported an improved use by passengers of the electronic entry and exit ticket of the Dominican Republic or e-Ticket.

“In at least four terminals was completed by about 15,000 passengers on its first day mandatory filling, but it also caused nearly 100 to miss their flights.”

On September 1, the first day of general use of the system that replaces paper forms, the mandatory filling of the digital format generated anger and stress in many travelers.

“Preliminarily, about 100 passengers had to leave on a later flight as they did not have the full e-Ticket at the time of check-in at the airport,” said Aerodom spokesman Luis José López.

He indicated that until yesterday afternoon there were no reports of travelers who presented this problem.

World Bank: Time to strike Dominican Republic’s tax break morass

Santo Domingo.- The World Bank (WB) and the French Development Agency (AFD) said the complexity of the Dominican tax code “and the uneven history of its application on certainly very narrow tax bases” has caused large or established companies to have unfair advantages over others, something that, at the same time, has weakened the efficiency and progressiveness of the country’s tax structure.

“Tax expenditures should be viewed as a top reform priority, because the DR’s elaborate system of exemptions, deductions, tax ‘holidays’ and other incentives favors established businesses, and removing these policies would boost revenues while it would encourage competition and level the playing field,” said the multilaterals in their most recent report,” Dominican Republic, public spending review.”

The tax exemptions, which especially benefit free zones, the electricity sector, tourism and mining, are governed by 39 different tax regulations.

Covid resurgence projected

Johns Hopkins coronavirus case tracker and Global Public Health expert Denise Gomez puts above 3,000 diagnosed daily in the Dominican Republic for the third week of October.

Santo Domingo, DR

Unos 21,323 new weekly cases of the Covid-19 virus would be registered in the country during the week of October 18 to 24 of this year, equivalent to 3,057 per day, according to the projections made in this regard by the Johns Hopkins coronavirus case tracker and Global Public Health expert, Denise Gómez.

The Dominican specialist assures that with these projections, she is conservative, using as a reference a transmissibility rate of 1.66, but that it could be higher due to the circulation of different variants and because she is convinced that the Delta is present in the country. However, officially it has not been detected.

In addition to the number of circulating variants and their virulence, the expert bases her projections, based on the current behavior of the epidemic, civil disobedience to protection measures, superspreading events that the population carries out every weekend throughout the country, on weakness in contact tracing and active case search.

In a visit to Listín Diario, the specialist said that the increase in cases is already beginning to be visualized with the systematic increase in the percentage of positivity of the samples that the country has been reporting for several days.

Every week
Gómez reported that weekly she has been making projections of the virus’s behavior in the country that have been fulfilled. The most significant increase in cases, breaking the barrier of a thousand daily, is expected to begin to be registered from the week of September 20 to 26.

She recalled that the transmissibility rate of the Delta variant is from 6 to 8; that is, each infected person can infect that number and considered it a weakness that the country is sequencing with very few samples.

Vaccinate undocumented people
Gómez understands that the country should be doing massive tests for the virus, with four times the number that is currently done, and especially contact tracing and not leave the diagnosis, as is presently the case, at the discretion of the patient, because the price that will be paid could be very high.

Regarding vaccination, she said that the country must include the undocumented, whose population could be around one or two million people, which joins a large part of the Dominican population that has not yet been vaccinated.

She said it increases the number of people circulating in the country without being vaccinated against the virus and, therefore, the risk of contagion and transmission.

Gómez notes that health care workers, those in the hotel area, and high-risk people should be followed up every one to two months.

The health expert suggests bolstering education, continuing to vaccinate, and incorporating close contact tracing to cut the line of transmission of the virus.

Traveling? Don’t forget your E-ticket

Santo Domingo.- As of Wednesday, travelers from or to the Dominican Republic must present the electronic migration form in a mandatory manner, reported the National Directorate of Migration.

Said form or e-Ticket combines in a single one the Immigration, Customs and Public Health declarations that travelers had to complete manually at the ports of entry and exit.

Enrique García, Director of Immigration, indicated that people who do not submit the previously filled out form through the page of that agency, will not be allowed to make their trip.

He recalled that the form is simple and can be completed from any digital platform. Once completed, a ticket with a QR code is generated, which the traveler can save on their device, as a PDF. This code must be presented at the port of departure, upon check-in.

Domnican Republic tourism recovers with an eye on attracting more investment

The Technical Deputy Minister of Tourism, Jacqueline Mora, stressed that the main challenges of tourism in the face of the recovery of tourism after the blow received due to the Cocid-19 pandemic are not only to be part of the wave of tourism but to shine and also encourage investment in the sector “and for this we have to bring whoever comes to invest.”

Mora said that the resilience of Dominican tourism is above the levels registered by other markets.

“For me it is a pride to say that globally, if you measure January-June, tourism has recovered between 15% and 20% and here it has recovered between 48% and 60%. In this rebound we made a greater leap than the one given by the rest of the world,” she explained.

According to Diario Libre, the official emphasized the data because it marks a turning point in what has been the behavior of the Dominican tourism sector during recent years.

“In recent years we were part of a global wave of tourism growth and, although we were part of that wave, we were not going at the same pace. We were doing well, but the rest of the world was doing better,” Mora said.

Sunwing: great demand of Canadian tourists for Punta Cana and Puerto Plata

With the Canadian authorities’ recent opening of international flights, Sunwing Airlines advanced in restructuring its global network in the Caribbean by adding new destinations popular with Canadian tourists, flying to Punta Cana and Montego Bay, which are currently the most demanded of its Caribbean network.

From December 2021 its network in the Caribbean will be routed in this way:

Montreal – Antigua
Toronto – Antigua
Montreal – Cayo Coco
Toronto – Cayo Coco
Montreal – Holguin
Toronto – Holguin
Montreal – Montego Bay
Toronto – Montego Bay
Toronto – Nassau
Montreal – Puerto Plata
Toronto – Puerto Plata
Montreal – Punta Cana
Toronto – Punta Cana
Montreal – Santa Clara
Toronto – Santa Clara
Montreal – Varadero
Toronto – Varadero
Sunwing will also add new options from Montreal and Toronto:

Toronto – Aruba, starting September 16, 2021, a weekly flight on Mondays
Toronto – St. Maarten, beginning September 30, 2021, a weekly flight on Thursdays
Montreal – Saint Maarten, beginning November 4, 2021, a weekly flight on Thursdays
To incentivize flights to the Caribbean, Sunwing will announce last-minute vacation deals, flexible booking options, and Covid-19 coverage should the traveler become infected with Covid courtesy of Manulife included in their vacation package and available to customers booking between September 9, 2021, and October 31, 2021.

Senate Approves Extension of 45-Day State of Emergency

The Senate of the Republic approved the resolution that extended the state of emergency for another 45 days, which will take effect from next August 27, when the current period expires.

President Luis Abinader requested the National Congress, via the Chamber of Deputies, under article 28 of Law No. 21-18, on the Regulation of States of Exception.

“Thanks to the curfew and the other social distancing measures adopted during the state of emergency, it has been possible to exercise control over the disease, so it is necessary to maintain and modulate them, while ensuring a gradual and safe economic reopening,” Abinader explained.

He added that “in fact, these are the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and other specialized agencies.”

It is recalled that this Wednesday, the Permanent Commission on Public Health of the Senate of the Republic, chaired by Senator Lía Díaz Santana (Azua), held a meeting where it agreed to render a favorable report to the resolution that extends the state of emergency.

“The Health Commission was meeting today almost in its entirety. Of 9 members, 8 were present; the resolution from the Chamber of Deputies was put to the vote, and with 6 of 8 senators with the right to vote, it was approved to render this favorable report,” said Díaz Santana.

Before making this decision, the Senate Health Committee received a visit from the Minister of Public Health, Daniel Rivera, to study the resolution.

“The minister came with technical data on how the coronavirus pandemic is in the country, as well as the curve of infections about the start of the 2021-2022 school year in person and that is precisely one of the reasons for extending the state of emergency.”

“In October a resurgence is expected, due to the number of people who will be mobilizing including our children and adolescents who return to the classrooms,” said the representative of the province of Azua.

While speaking before the senators present, the Minister of Public Health, Daniel Rivera, spoke of the importance of this new extension being approved after pointing out that 13 provinces are still lagging around vaccination against covid-19.

The Dominican Republic has been under a state of national emergency for 372 days since March 19, 2020, when Danilo Medina, acting president, issued decree 134-20 to combat the coronavirus and prevent mass contagion.

Exemplary tourist recovery of DR: rises to 73% hotel occupancy

 Collado highlights work done confidence in the sector

 The government remains focused on reactivating the tourism industry

David Collado, Minister of Tourism, explained that the Dominican Republic has had an unprecedented recovery in the tourism industry and continues to reaffirm “the commitment we have in the sector.”

“When we took control in the sector this reached about 15 thousand operating rooms with an occupancy rate of 15%, today we have more than 73 thousand rooms open with an occupancy in recent weeks of 73%”, he said.

He said that bookings for December exceed 26%, which was had in the same season for the year 2019.

“The trust that has permeated the government of President Luis Abinader, together with the dedication of every detail of both the public and private sectors, is what motivates us to continue giving everything for the industry,” he added.

Concerning the flights that arrive in the DR, the minister told arecoa.com that they are increasing as restrictions are lowered in the issuing countries, “last July we received 4,200 flights is an indicator that we are working to continue recovering and strengthening tourism.”

“The numbers we are seeing are felt because they are a reality, we are focused on continuing to take the country to the point that it remains the largest tourist destination in the Caribbean,” he said.

Collado added that the government took the recovery of tourism very seriously, so it will continue to support each project.

“We have become an example on the subject of international organizations, such as the World Tourism Organization(UNWTO)and the World Travel and Tourism Council(WTTC),have congratulated us on both the protocols and the management at the time of reopening,” he emphasized.

Dominican Republic expects greater flow of tourists by opening Canada

Tourism. On September 7, they will lift restrictions

Canadian airlines make between three and five weekly flights to the destinations of Puerto Plata and Punta Cana

OTTAWA, Canada. The Dominican Republic’s embassy in Canada expects a boost in the flow of Canadian tourists to the Dominican Republic starting on September seven, when restrictions on travelers from that nation to the Caribbean destination will be officially lifted and vice versa.

This was stated by Michelle Cohen, Dominican ambassador, who highlighted that since May, she has been holding an intense round of talks with Canadian airlines and tour operators, with whom she has shared about the joint effort of the Dominican government and the private sector to guarantee the best levels of biosecurity to tourists.

Cohen reported that he adhered to the efforts and efforts of influence – to achieve an opening date – on the part of leaders such as Perrin Beatty, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce; Bruce Burrows, president of the Maritime Chamber of Commerce; Mike McNaney, president of the National Airline Council of Canada and about twenty industry and business associations.

Likewise, following the guidelines of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tourism, the diplomat has provided information on the progress in the immunization plan of the Dominican Republic, which marks a leadership in the Caribbean and Latin American regions in first and second doses, also having vaccines for a third reinforcement inoculation.

Cohen stressed that all the business meetings he has held with Canadian businesspeople linked to tourism, trade, industry, and other areas had found sufficient reasons to be optimistic about the revival of tourism from the North American country and trade.

Canadian airlines have made between three and five weekly flights to the DR since July, specifically touching the destinations of Punta Cana and Puerto Plata, an activity that is expected to be boosted.

Grupo Poma: “Dominican tourism is recovering quite well.”

THE BUSINESS GROUP HIGHLIGHTS FAVORABLE CONDITIONS OF THE COUNTRY FOR INVESTMENT

 Fernando Poma detailed his commitment to sd’s corporate hospitality

 Government measures boost tourism revival

Confidence in the Dominican Republic’s tourism sector continues to be evidenced in the growth of lodging centers beyond the usual offer of the sun and beach segment. The proposal of the corporate market in the hotels of the city resumes its course with the implementation of hotel projects dedicated to attracting business visitors.

Santo Domingo does not stop its hotel development despite the strong impact of Covid-19, the most recent bet is that of the Poma Group, as Fernando Poma, executive director of Real Hotels & Resorts, told arecoa.com, the intentions of the business group to build the Courtyard by Marriott Santo Domingo -Piantini- is that the country has recovered “quite well” from the pandemic compared to other destinations where they operate.

“RD has maintained an excellent balance between the medical issue and the generation of opportunities for the economy through the recovery of tourism and all the countries where we operate is one of the best,” he added.

The Salvadoran businessman indicated that the Dominican Republic is a country that has the conditions to continue investing since it has the conditions and facilities such as legal security, citizen security, reasonable interest rate, and inflation, market, fiscal policies in favor of investment, among others.

“In short, it has a favorable environment for the investment of our group and we hope to continue doing other things, since it has not had abrupt changes and has given continuity to favorable policies that this is a great benefit and has created optimism to continue investing,” the executive emphasized.

Poma recalled that the group has the Real Intercontinental Hotel, Quality Hotel Real Aeropuerto Santo Domingo, Roble Corporate Center (office building), and soon the Courtyard by Marriott Santo Domingo, with which he hopes to finalize a portfolio of facilities for business travelers in the city.

“We are a corporate hotel company and our effort is based on creating that type of traveler a comfortable stay according to their needs,” he said.

He said that business tourism and congresses and conventions (MICE) are in recovery (“the Real Intercontinental has had good results”). Moreover, it is expected that the new boutique hotel of 161 rooms, which is scheduled to open in 2023, will attract regular corporate tourists using high technologies.

“We expect a corporate tourist of average age, between 20 to 45 years old, the kind of people who want a fabulous room with the best technology, several amenities and at the best price,” he said.

Public-private pact aims to improve Sosua’s beaches

Sosúa, Dominican Republic.- The President of the Republic, Luis Abinader, yesterday led the signing of a public-private agreement to improve the beaches in the municipality of Sosúa, Puerto Plata province.

The agreement, signed by David Collado, Minister of Tourism; Wilfredo Olivence, mayor of Sosúa; José Miguel González Cuadra, president of the Executing Unit of La Barquita and Surroundings (URBE); Minoru Matsunaga, director of the Specialized Body for Tourist Security (Cestur) and Rafael Arias, executive director of the National Institute of Traffic and Land Transportation (Intrant).

Also Eduardo Sánchez González, director of the National Police; Andrés Gustavo Pastoriza, president of the Sustainable Development Association of Sosúa (ADSS) and Vice Admiral Ramón Gustavo Betances Hernández, Commander General of the Navy.

Lifestyle Group starts construction of 129 tourist villas in Puerto Plata

IT IS A SUSTAINABLE RESIDENTIAL TOURISM PROJECT

President Luis Abinader gave the first step for constructing The Royal Lake Village by Lifestyleproject, a new offer of the Lifestyle Group in Puerto Plata.

It is a sustainable residential tourism project (Eco-Friendly type), which will be composed of 129 villas of 2, 3, and 4 rooms whose construction measures range from 110 to 190 square meters.

It is planned to be developed on a surface area of approximately 92,000 square meters, composed of 129 villas of 2, 3, and 4 rooms.

It also includes restaurants, theme bars, lake lounge, Spa with sauna and jacuzzi, beauty salon, gym, swimming pools, snack bar, playground, building for lockers, parking for golf carts, and laundry have recreation and sports areas.

The concept is related to the tourist niche that aims at a holiday of physical and mental well-being, looking for a space for the relaxation of those who visit it.

The landscaping of the area is based on a balance between luxury and respect for the nature that surrounds it, with paths of natural parks for Jogging, meditation and yoga areas, surrounded by trees and lagoons that form a unique set, with the basic idea of the interaction of the human being with the environment.

The president of the Lifestyle Group, Markus Wischenbart, said that the opening of the new project is a further demonstration of the hotel group’s confidence in the total recovery of Dominican tourism, the good investment climate that exists and that “we continue to bet on the destination of Puerto Plata.”

He highlighted the effort made by the government and the private sector to achieve the responsible recovery of tourism in the Dominican Republic, as it predicts that the new project will attract thousands of new tourists to the important destination of Puerto Plata each year, which will lead to a significant economic movement throughout the area, according to a statement.

Wischenbart thanked the President and the Government for their support to the hotel sector in the pandemic while underlining the effort and excellent work done to mitigate the consequences of Covid-19.

In addition, he said that in the case of the Lifestyle Group, there has been an average occupancy of more than sixty percent in the first six months of this year and that only in July it reached 80%.

Another sign of the recovery, Wischenbart said, is that it currently has 2,500 direct jobs and another five thousand indirect ones.

Meanwhile, the Administrative Minister of the Presidency, José Ignacio Paliza, stressed the new investment in the development of tourism on the North Coast.

“This investment by the Lifestyle Group is one more encouragement in this destination and a commitment to the bright future that we have all been building for our country,” he said.

He recalled that the Lifestyle Group had become the primary employer in Puerto Plata and one of the most important in the entire northern region.