Spanish
Santo Domingo,.- The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) recognized this Tuesday the Minister of Tourism of the Dominican Republic, David Collado, as "the minister of the Americas" for "his visionary and transformative leadership in the sector".
"This award, of an unprecedented and institutional nature, recognizes the outstanding work of Minister Collado in promoting tourism as a driver of economic development, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability in the Latin American and Caribbean region," highlighted the Dominican Ministry of Tourism in a statement.
You may be interested in: David Collado: “Tourism has no partisan colors”
The initiative is part of the new UN Tourism program that seeks to highlight public figures who, from their positions, promote concrete policies and actions with a significant impact on the tourism industry. The recognition was presented by the Executive Secretary of UN Tourism, Natalia Bayona, who valued Collado's management of the Ministry of Tourism since August 2020, during an international conversation on tourism cooperation. Tourism, the country's main source of foreign currency, has been breaking records since its recovery after the coronavirus pandemic; even in 2022, Collado and the country's president, Luis Abinader, were recognized by UNWTO for the "exemplary" recovery of the sector. The Dominican Republic received 8,592,694 visitors between January and September of this year, which represented an increase of 2.6% compared to the same period of 2024, according to official data. Of the total number of tourists, 6,575,483, 77% arrived by air, 2.3% more than in the same period last year; the rest of the travelers, 2,017,221, arrived by cruise ship, which represented a 4% growth in that period of time.
