Tourism mogul urges Puerto Plata to put the environment first

Puerto Plata.- Tourism mogul Frank Rainieri on Thurs. urged Puerto Plata’s leaders to promote an environmental program to preserve natural resources, improve the environmental conditions tourist and secure future generations of visitors.

“The environmental agenda is a crucial issue without which we will have no future, and it’s so important that our organizations should not leave it in the hands of the State alone,” said the president of the Puntacana Group in a conference sponsored by Puerto Plata’s American Chamber of Commerce.

He stressed that environmental sustainability practices increasingly gain space in the main North America and European markets. “Therefore, today they are a highly valued attribute, and a key factor in attracting tourists and foreign resources to support innovative projects.”

He suggested that Puerto Plata business and social tourism organizations launch a solid environmental program and ensure a collective effort at an affordable cost for all the actors and could draw external support to obtain resources.

“Without this component, the effort you make to boost Puerto Plata’s tourist sector would be incomplete. The environmental agenda is vital and is the great difference between yesteryear when Playa Dorada was opened and the international airport was inaugurated, today, and tomorrow,” Rainieri said.

He added that the international society has evolved, is much better informed and more than 50 percent of international tourists prefer nature or rest tourism.