Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/910090
B M & T ••• September/October 2017 ••• www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 39 The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) is deepening its partnership and outreach to hote- liers and tourism partners in the Dominican Republic. As part of a new agreement, a center of tourism informa- tion planned by the National Association of Hotels and Restaurants in the Dominican Republic (ASON- AHORES), will share with CHTA and its members research on tourism's broad economic impact and linkages to various industries and areas of economic activity in the country. The Memorandum of Understanding between the two bodies – signed during CHTA's board meeting in Miami recently – also allows ASONAHORES to access reports from CHTA's data partners, including STR, MasterCard, KPMG, ADARA, Travelzoo, the Caribbean Tourism Organization, the American Resort Development Association and the World Travel and Tourism Council. CHTA will arrange in-country workshops and presenta- tions for ASONAHORES' members to review data an d reports and to provide them with greater insight and tools useful for desti- nation, organization and property planning. The two organizations agreed such information sharing will strengthen ASON- AHORES' advocacy efforts with both the Dominican government and the business community. In addition, CHTA will engage the group in discussions with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) as the institu- tion reviews extending the Caribbean Hote ls Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Action (CHEN- ACT) program to member hotels. CHENACT has compiled detailed investment-grade audits in more than 150 hotels. In addition, demonstration projects were conducted with tools and guides to sup- port greater efficiencies. As a result, participating hotels are realizing significant savings in electricity and water costs. CHTA has discussed with the IDB the f easibility of con- ducting a third phase of CHENACT with the Dominican Republic being one of the beneficiary countries. Recognizing the potential for the region to further develop health and medical tourism, CHTA and ASONAHORES agreed to develop a strategy for the development of medical tourism in the region and to recognize the desire of the Dominican Republic to play a leadership role in this rapidly gr owing sector. In addition to the priority areas of focus, the two organizations will continue to explore other opportunities for collabo- ration, including sustainable tourism, tourism investment promotion, regional tourism marketing, capacity building of local destination marketing organizations, regional air connectivity, cruise tourism and human resource development. For further information, visit www.-caribbeanhote- landtourism.com. tions to the island have not diminished after Governor Ricardo Rosselló recently signed a law that enables the creation of a DMO. Notwithstanding the challenges and adversities faced during 2016, Meet Puerto Rico managed to attract more than 220 groups to the island, gen- erating an economic impact of approximately $120 million. "We are confident that implementing the DMO will be of great ben- efit to our industry, but at the same time it is crucial to continu e maximiz- ing our sales efforts during this transition period so that the industry will be strengthened and ready for exponential growth once the new organi- zation takes over," said Segarra. Meet Puerto Rico's promotional events calendar is available at http://puertorico.simpleviewcrm.com/webapi/rsvp/v2/ . From left) Dominican Republic hotelier Simo-n B. Sua-rez; CHTA President Karolin Troubetzkoy; Joel Santos, President of ASONAHORES; and CHTA Director General Frank Comito at last month's MOU signing CHTA TO WORK CLOSELY WITH DOMINICAN REPUBLIC PRIVATE SECTOR