Seeking Common Solutions To Common Problems

Dominican Republic Minister of Tourism David Collado has issued a fervent appeal to the members of the Executive Council of the World Tourism Organization to unite when seeking common solutions to common problems. such as sargassum, which affects much of the Caribbean.

“The solution to the sargassum problem cannot be individual,” Collado said in his opening speech at the 118th meeting of the UNWTO executive council, which kicked off Wednesday in Punta Cana. and ended Thursday.

He said that solutions should be sought to the problems affecting the region at a general level, referring to sargassum. “And organizations like this should help small countries find solutions when we don’t have them,” Collado said.

Collado also thanked the UNWTO for having chosen the Dominican Republic to hold its 118th meeting, for the first time in its history. He understood it was a recognition of his country’s tourism industry’s success over the past few years, making it a leader in the region.

He indicated that tourism is not luxury for the Dominican Republic, but something essential because of the impact it has on the economy, which represents more than 25% of the gross domestic product.

Opening the meeting, UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili highlighted the country’s achievements in tourism, especially its rapid pandemic recovery. He said that the Dominican Republic has become a world benchmark for tourism.

“Minister David Collado, without you and your team, it would have been impossible to organize this summit, the most important for our organization and the most important for tourism.”

Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez stressed the importance for the country of the meeting of the Executive Committee of the UNWTO, held in the country.

“We hope that this forum will be particularly conducive to the promotion of responsible, local, sustainable and universally accessible to promote the development of responsible, sustainable and respectful tourism. environment aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”