Santo Domingo.- Cruise tourism promises to become the main ally of the sector’s projected growth in Santo Domingo for the coming years, a part of the government’s goal to attract 10 million tourists to Dominican Republic within a decade, said Wednesday Sans Souci Tourism Investment Group executives Sharon Mei and Jaime Castillo.
They said Sans Souci port received more than 23,556 tourists in 2013, increasing by 49,433 to 73,089 in 2014, a 48% jump in one year.
Speaking during a visit to Tourism minister Francisco Javier García, the executives also said cruise tourism progresses in Sans Souci port, which expects to receive more than 84,700 passengers this year.
The increase reflects efforts by the port administration and the Tourism Ministry to attract new cruise lines to the citythrough direct approaches, fam-trip invitations, participation in international fairs and through the Santo Domingo Colonial City Tourism Development Program.
Sans Souci executives lauded the Tourism Ministry’s work through that program and the positive impact it has had on the entire historic center, leading to increasing visitors in the past two years.
Nonetheless Mei and Castillo cautioned that trash collection in the Colonial Zone must be a priority, as well as the construction of a pedestrian bridge over the Avenida del Puerto seaside boulevard.