The First World Fair of Ecotourism will take place in Santiago de los Caballeros next autumm.
Julio García. Madrid
The Dominican Republic has been defending the sustainable tourism and the promotion of agricultural products of the country for 18 years in an annual fair, which this year, for the first time, will have a global character. The city of Santiago de los Caballeros will host from 18 to 26 October the First World Fair of Ecotourism and Production.
The ambassador of the Dominican Republic in Spain, César Medina Abreu, explained to The Diplomat that “the important thing about this exhibition is that his country will be able to show the rest of the world its capacity in the industrial, agricultural and cattle areas and, especially, to open a business alternative to countries that do not have this formula to show themselves to others”.
During the presentation, the ambassador of the Dominican Republic in Trinidad and Tobago, José Serulle, told that 32 countries, being Spain among them, have already confirmed their participation in this Fair and they are trying for the final number of countries to be around 70, from the five continents. He added that the business volume that could be developed in this event would be around 7,000 million dollars.
For his part, Jacqueline Boin, president of the Foundation Science and Arts, pointed out that this fair would not only be a business opportunity for businessmen, but also a forum for exhibitions, workshops, conferences, trips and sports, encouraged by the same goal, favouring the exchange of experiences on how to preserve the cultural and biological diversity on the international level for human development, people’s solidarity and peace.
A place, he highlighted, where sustainable tourism actors can get in touch with each other, share experiences and promote their tourist destinations. It also intends to show policies and technologies available to build sustainable cities and put a face to those companies interested in those processes of construction and reduction of the disaster risk.
Dominican diplomats are working to get Israel and Palestine’s participation
José Serulle stressed the solidarity and peace values that will be part of this exhibition and he announced that Dominican diplomats are working hard so that Israel and Palestine can participate in the fair and share the same space after many years of conflict.
He also commented on the “important participation of Spain” in the fair, as well as of other European countries, with the objective of increasing the volume of tourism in the island until it goes from the 5 million people it welcomes at the moment to 10 million.
He concluded that the exhibition will be a forum to promote sustainable tourism, one that respects the ecosystem, as well as a meeting place for the participating countries to favour the exchange of experiences and business related to the sector.
