Collado’s titanic effort to maintain the cruise boom
Tourism Minister David Collado stated that his administration is focused on implementing concrete projects and actions to strengthen the country’s tourism development and ensure the industry’s sustained growth.
“We were elected to govern, to build parks, solve problems on the beaches, restore seawalls, and ensure that tourists continue to arrive in destinations like Puerto Plata, where this year we expect to receive more than 2.6 million cruise ship passengers,” he said.
Collado revealed that he recently held meetings with the top executives of major cruise lines, including MSC Cruises, Royal Caribbean, and Carnival Cruise Line, to analyze cruise passenger arrivals in the country.
The official explained that May, June, and July showed warning signs in the cruise segment, prompting direct intervention to prevent a decline in this important segment.
“I cannot allow tourism to decline or for a false perception to arise that the sector is shrinking. A public administrator must prevent and act before problems occur,” he stated.
During discussions with shipping companies, Collado questioned the approximately 30% reduction in operations by some companies in the Dominican Republic. He indicated that he determined that part of this decrease was due to the opening of new port infrastructure in the Bahamas, which was capturing routes originally scheduled for the country.
“The Dominican Republic’s oil is tourism, that’s why we acted immediately to protect the industry,” he said.
As a result of the negotiations, the minister reported that he managed to get Royal Caribbean to add 48,000 passengers to the Dominican Republic by adjusting its sailing routes, a measure he described as uncommon in the cruise industry, where itineraries are usually planned up to two years in advance.
“Thanks to these efforts, in a month that was projected to have negative results for cruise tourism, we will be receiving nearly 18,000 additional passengers from Royal Caribbean,” he highlighted.
The official explained that he recently publicly thanked the shipping company on his social media, without offering details of the negotiations, because his main interest is to maintain collaborative relationships with all companies in the sector.
The minister maintained that the positive results in tourism are the product of the constant work, planning, and ongoing efforts carried out by the Ministry of Tourism ( Mitur ) together with the private sector to guarantee the competitiveness of the destination.
“Good news doesn’t happen by chance. It’s the result of taking action, working hard, seeking consensus, and overcoming obstacles every day so that Dominican tourism continues to grow,” he concluded.
