Solimar International - 2010 - Strengthening sustainable tourism throughout the Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic (DR) has already built a major tourism industry—in 1972, it had about 1,600 hotel rooms; it now has over 60,000. While it has been successful, the industry continues to mature and as a result, faces new challenges brought on by rapid growth and by a change in consumer demand toward a more sustainable form of tourism. In particular, the country must now find ways to transform its natural, historical, and cultural assets into a thriving, sustainable tourism sector that contributes to poverty alleviation, economic expansion, and environmental protection.

Solimar’s goal is to better equip and strengthen local small, medium-sized and community-based tourism enterprises, and relevant tourism entities (most notably the existing tourism clusters) to independently sustain efforts once external funding from USAID/DR is removed. In addition, a newly diversified set of tourist offering will promote sustainable activities in and around protected areas, thereby helping to protect the country’s environment and natural resources.


The USAID-Dominican Republic Sustainable Tourism Alliance’s (DSTA) purpose is to increase small and medium business growth in an environmentally sustainable manner through market-driven tourism/ecotourism development/linkage programs, cluster activities, and a reinvention of the tourist offering on fragile coastal and inland environments. To conserve biodiversity and better manage the natural resource base, the DSTA has brought together a world-class team of individuals and institutions from the public, private, and NGO sectors as well as leading national, regional, and international tourism industry enterprises to address the multi-dimensional aspects of sustainable tourism in the DR.		Specifically, DSTA will work principally on 1) Moving the clusters developed under USAID’s Competitiveness and Policy Program (La Romana-Bayahibe, Jarabacoa, Barahona, Puerto Plata, Altagracia, and Samaná), and the newly-formed clusters in Pedernales, Santo Domingo, and Constanza, towards self-sufficiency and sustainability, transforming them into functioning Destination Management Organizations (DMOs); 2) Strengthening municipal environmental management capabilities and stimulating small, medium, and community-based tourism efforts; and 3) Improving protected area management and sustainable nature tourism (ecotourism) initiatives in select locations to provide direct financial benefits for local communities and conservation.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

• 9 self-sustained Destination Management Organizations with completed business plans, sales and marketing strategies and pilot projects

• 20 small, medium, and community-based tourism enterprises supported with completed business plans, trained in tourism operations and with sales and marketing strategies to connect them to the global market place

• Tourism product development and training methodologies developed for the Dominican Republic and transferred to local actors through a network of clusters mechanism known as the Dominican Tourism Competitiveness Council to continue to support the goals of the DSTA

• Development of a Sales and Marketing Alliance supported by the consorcio which will provide continued assistance to a network of small and community based tourism enterprises through the country

•Sustainable tourism packages and day tours developed to collectively change the image of the Dominican Republic from solely a sun and sand destination

• The development of at least 5 strategic alliances and 3 co-management agreements that formalize actions, roles, and responsibilities for destination stewardship by local communities thus promoting their economic livelihoods and political empowerment.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

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