Quisqueya: 10 million tourists

My mentor, good friend and born namesake (we were both born on September 16, he in 1925, I in 1952) pointed out that Damián Barceló Obrador, native of Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands, prof. in life university tourism and isthmus lover who acquired the property of the old school of America to establish the best inn in the province of Colón, his deep friendship, affection and cooperation with the president of the Dominican Republic, Joaquín Balaguer.

The Balaguer’s extended day in the presidential chair of Quisqueyan, during seven different periods, allowed him to determine the tourism policy of the island with the participation of his coadjutor Damián, whom he appointed Advisor to the State Secretary for Tourisma position that, due to his intimate relationship with the president, had more influence than his ministers.

This, because in the absence of our case, Don Damián was a regular Marco Polo, a born hotelier, who said that the first steps helped him to stay on the foundations of the companies he represented, Sol Meliá and Barceló, true titans of hospitality around the world.

Perhaps the basis of his success in the Dominican Republic was to capture the culture of tourism, which does not exist here. His skills as a postman, announcer and barber’s assistant created his vision of service and made him a man with great prospects in business.

And now we see the fruits! Dominican Republic, which shares an island with Haiti, received 7 million tourists by August 2023, exceeding the same figures for 2022 by 25%, expecting to end the calendar year with 10 million visitors, surpassing its peak period of 7.5 million in 2019, considering combined air and cruise fares.

It is a great enigma like Panama, with beaches in both oceans, located outside the dangerous hurricane zone of the Caribbean, with a universal magnet that is its channel, with enviable ecotourism, well described in the newspapers New York Times “disgrace of natural beauty”, with its capital, the third city with the highest number of skyscrapers on the continent, after New York and Chicago, fails to attract even a quarter of Dominican tourism. Maybe we need Damián or Balaguer, I don’t know.

What is very clear to us is that the lack of dynamics and action is unpleasant, where we cite as an example A view of the imposing Terminal 2 of Tocumen Airport, but its flights are still sitting on the sleeves of its original terminal, forcing passengers to make an extensive pilgrimage for immigration and customs procedures, where its mobile sleeves are persistently not fully operational. As simple as it would be for all flights arriving at Terminal 1 to complete their procedures at the same terminal, the most important variable here is the airline, not tourist comfort.

As long as this retrograde vision exists, we will remain in the disgrace of regional tourism, surely outshone by tiny El Salvador where President Bukele zealously promotes his tourism efforts. As Don Damián mentioned,the common denominator of the success of the smokeless industry is

title of service, here illusory.