The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association looking to deepen its partnership and outreach to hoteliers and tourism partners in the Dominican Republic.

As part of a new agreement, the National Association of Hotels and Restaurants in the Dominican Republic, ASONAHORES, will launch a center of tourism information which will share with CHTA and its members research on tourism’s broad impact and linkages to various industries and areas of economic activity in the country.

The Memorandum of Understanding between the two bodies – signed during CHTA’s board meeting in Miami last month – also allows ASONAHORES to access reports from CHTA’s data partners, including STR, MasterCard, KPMG, ADARA, Travelzoo, the Caribbean Tourism Organization, the American Resort Development Association and the World Travel and Tourism Council.

CHTA will arrange in-country workshops and presentations for ASONAHORES’ members to review data and reports and to provide them with greater insight and tools for useful destination, organization and property planning.

The two organizations agreed such information sharing will strengthen ASONAHORES’ advocacy efforts with both the Dominican government and the business community.

In addition, CHTA will engage the group in discussions with the Inter-American Development Bank as the institution reviews extending the Caribbean Hotels Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Action program to member hotels.

Recognizing the potential for the region to further develop health and medical tourism, CHTA and ASONAHORES also agreed to develop a strategy for the development of medical tourism in the region and to recognize the desire of the Dominican Republic to play a leadership role in this rapidly growing sector.

In addition to the priority areas of focus, the two organizations will continue to explore other opportunities for collaboration, including sustainable tourism, tourism investment promotion, regional tourism marketing, capacity building of local destination marketing organizations, regional air connectivity, cruise tourism and human resource development.

— Dana Niland, CJ Contributor