Tourist Projects on Dominican-Haitian Border To Get Leg Up

The World Tourism Organization (WTO) will dispatch a mission to the Dominican Republic in an effort to boost up joint development projects on the Haitian border.

The Dominican Tourism Department informed in a press release the WTO delegation will stay in the country for 11 days to sketch out a master plan for the nation´s southwest region that involves businesspeople and governmental officials from both countries.

Dominican Tourism Secretary Felix Jimenez said the initiative is part of a commitment reached last October with WTO Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli to map out a common borderline tourist project that must be ready to go as late as February.

WTO experts arrived Friday in the Dominican Republic and are expected to huddle with representatives from the local public and private sectors, with the top official of the United Nations Development Program in the country and with officers from the Haitian and Dominican Tourism Ministries.

According to Mr. Jimenez, construction works are scheduled to begin later this year and the first hotels will be opened by the end of 2006.