CNC Director Calls for Sector Alliance around Tourism Clusters

Andres Van de Horst Alvarez, executive director of the National Competitiveness Council (CNC is the Spanish acronym), called today for stronger alliance among national sectors by powering up and reinforcing tourism clusters, a more including modality that helps improve social and economic development of all peoples.

“Confident that tourism is by far our most valuable source of wealth, our challenge right now, for us and for all of you as well, is to find ways to make it far more competitive, environment-friendlier and socially sustainable; to find ways to turn it into the powerhouse of the national economy,” said Mr. Alvarez in his keynote speech during the opening of the First Global Conference on Tourism Competitiveness and Clusters sponsored by The Competitiveness Tourism (TCI) that will be held till April 10 in Bavaro, the Dominican Republic.

Mr. Alvarez pointed out that achieving sustainable and sustained tourism cannot be seen as just a productive activity or a private commercial effort. “It calls for the formulation of public practices that can go far beyond conveniences and incentives in terms of investment, as well the commitment of each and every Dominican national to this project,” he added.

“It takes a commitment to the development of infrastructure, to citizen safety and security, to the education and training of human resources, to the preservation of natural resources and to the development of a distinctive and unrepeatable brand-country, both in terms of quality and the kind of services it has to offer,” Mr. Alvarez was quoted as saying.

Under the subject “Tourism Clusters of Sustainable and Competitive World Class”, the conference welcomes professionals of the cluster area, investigators, international experts and professionals of the tourism area from all over the world, to discuss the major issues and latest trends in the promotion of competitiveness through local development and clusters.

TCI is the leading global network for practitioners, policy makers, researchers and business leaders working towards improving competitiveness in regions and clusters. TCI is a non-profit, non-governmental organization, with a global scope, open to members from all countries. The National Competitiveness Council of the Dominican Republic is a public institution with a private-public board and chaired by the President of the DR, which leads and coordinates national public policy on competitiveness and clusters. The CNC promotes clusters in tourism, agro industry and other industrial sectors and works also towards improving the business climate to enhance competitiveness in the Dominican Republic.

The Competitiveness Institute on this Caribbean island acts as a national counterpart and local organizer of this event. The initiative is being backed up by the nation’s Tourism Ministry, the National Hotel and Restaurant Association (ASONAHORES), the Dominican Tourist Competitiveness Council (CDTC is the Spanish acronym), the USAID and the Dominican Sustainable Tourism Alliance, the European Union, the Andean Development Corporation, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Banco Popular Dominicano, Grupo Metro, the Dominican Caribbean Traveling Network and Casa Montecristo, among others.