The Complexity of Worldwide Tourism Market Demand Countries to Plan on Development
“The exploitation of the tourism industry in emerging locations requires realistic and technically well conceived development plans, as well as a harmonic and constructive relationship of the Government with the private sector and community leaders, to be able to successfully handle the changes that occur in the markets and the world economy”, stated by Enrique De Marchena Kaluche, Vice-President of the Caribbean Hotels Association (CHA).
De Marchena Kaluche, former President of the National Association of Hotel and Restaurants (ASONAHORES), was guest speaker at the 9th Forum of Tourism of Panama Corporate Executives Association, where the Minister of Tourism, Rubén Blades, and the Tourism Deputy Secretary of Mexico, Humberto Sarmiento Luebbert, also pronounced speeches. Entrepreneurs and executives of the tourism sector participated as well.
“In the last 25 years the world economy and tourist markets have suffered great changes, therefore, the challenges to be faced by the emerging destinations in the tropical areas of our region and in other parts of the world will be greater”, Marchena said.
As an example, De Marchena cited the vertiginous expansion of Internet and the deep changes it brings about in respect to the way the relationship with tourist markets is conducted.
De Marchena emphasized the decision making power granted to the consumer by Internet. Every day, the customer is better informed, is more demanding and has more specific motivations. This requires the system to manage the offer and ensure quality and diversity of products.
De Marchena explained that in tourism there are no longer secrets, as read the Dominican promotion slogan of the eighties, and that “there is a huge competition between dozens of tourism destinations with warm weather and a sunny and beautiful beaches, which fight for visitors and fewer corporate investors each day due to the mergers and acquisitions that take place in the great tourism markets”.
He stated that the world used to be wide and separated, but now “thanks to the Internet the world has become a global village. The Internet makes our frequent social and political problems, our precarious infrastructures, the weaknesses of our complementary offer and other limitations known to the world, even when these would not be the most important headlines” in the most popular newspapers.
De Marchena pointed out that tourism is probably the most powerful business activity in the world, but, in his own opinion, there is no point in multilateral agreements such as DR-CAFTA, because no government can indicate its citizens in which country they should spend their holidays. He emphasized that, in order to respond to the challenges of tourism development in the current environment, it is necessary to have realistic development plans, technically well conceived, along with a harmonic and constructive relationship between the Government and the private sector and community leaders. ///
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Email dinamarca@cicomnews.com – October 19, 2006