Miguelina Ortiz de Subervi. Tourism Minister of the Dominican Republic

Q- Mrs. Minister, how did you take this office in which you’re now replacing your husband, probably the next president of the Dominican Republic?

A- This is a high responsibility. I’d say a double responsibility. On the one hand, with the country and on the other hand, in kind of a more personal way, with my husband because I feel the need to pick up the work right where Dr. Subervi left off.

Q- Are you going to follow in his footsteps?

A- Absolutely. The results we’re achieving out of the policies he applied are certainly paying off.

Q- Are you planning to change relations between the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO)?

A- Our administration and the CTO have always been at odds because we believe they simply pay heed to their own interests, focus on their own resources and efforts, that is, the English-speaking Caribbean, not the rest of the Caribbean.

Q- The presence of a Dominican, Simon Perez, as president of the Caribbean Hotels Association (CHA), has it helped in any way to build better relations with the CTO?

A- Indeed, Simon has done his very best the best way he knows how. We feel respect and admiration toward a man who’s moved up the ladder by the sweat of his brow. But that hasn’t helped to improve relations with the CTO. We’ve demonstrated in figures that we’ve done a whole lot better with our own contacts and investments than by simply going hand in hand with the CTO.

Q- Can you give us some ideas to achieve better relations with the CTO?

A- I believe the CTO needs to take a look at itself, take a closer look at its deepest entrails, stop being such a protectionist institution with some countries, and try to help out those nations that are not under its wing. The CTO is financing, and in the same breath, they’re financing their English-speaking islands, protected by the funds of the CARICOM and the COMMONWEALTH, and other islands ruled by France.

Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and the Netherlands Antilles, just to name but a few, are nations that have no supports and pay no attention to the needs of these smaller countries to increase their tourism in those markets that lure us the most. This situation has been going on for years. The monetary contributions the CTO is requesting from us are simply outrageous compared to the benefits we could reap out of that relation. Therefore, we’re not having an active participation within the CTO.

We don’t intend to create a new organization because that’d only bring more red tape and add more fuel to the flame. We’re only considering the need to bring about a shakeup and an all-embracing overhaul of the CTO. That’ll do us all some good.

Q- Are you going to work as an interim minister?

A- That’s right. For the next eight months until the presidential elections.

Q- What working strategy are you relying on?

A- Throw our support behind tour operators and their actions, because they’re the one that bring us the tourists. We intend to bank on the media organizations of those countries we home in on. Unfortunately and given the economic hardships our country is going through, we’ve been unable to continue our promotional campaign, but you bet we’ll resume it soon.

Q- How is the British market doing?

A- It has been nudging up a bit lately, especially if you take a look at the number of visitors we’ve been getting this year. They’re making most of their bookings for the wintertime season and for next summer. And those figures speak volumes of the kind of comeback this market is staging right away.

Q- Is the German market snapping back, too?

A- Very slowly, but it’s definitely rebounding. As a matter of fact, the U.K. and Germany were the only two countries that slashed the number of travelers to the Dominican Republic last year. The British have already bounced back and the latter is right on track.

Q- How is the Spanish market faring?

A- Just great, with approximately 600,000 tourists.

Q- And what about the Italian and French markets?

A- The French market has grown fourfold. The Italian market, though not at such a neck-breaking pace as the former, it has grown, too.

Q- As to the U.S. market; what cities and states send the largest amount of sunbathers?

A- Those in the Northwest: New York, Boston, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Connecticut. We also receive tourists from the Midland, like Houston. As we speak, the U.S. market takes in almost 40 percent of the nearly 3 million visitors we welcome every year. Make no mistakes about it; that’s our premiere sending market.