Authorities of the Dominican Republic sign the Safe Tourism Assistance Plan

The Minister of Tourism, the General Administrator of
Banco de Reservas and the Executive Vice President of Seguros Reservas
sealed yesterday the agreement.

The Ministry of Tourism, the Banco de Reservas and Seguros Reserva signed last night the RD Insurance Tourism Assistance Plan agreement, which will provide health insurance and free assistance to more than 400 thousand tourists who are projected to come to the country between the 15th of this and on December 31 next, which would involve 1.1 billion dollars.

The agreement was signed during a ceremony at the Homewood Suites By Hilton Santo Domingo hotel, by the administrator of the Banco de Reservas, Samuel Pereyra, the Minister of Tourism, David Collado, and the vice president of Seguros Reservas, Víctor Rojas, who agreed on the Need to support the tourism sector by all means after the impact of COVID-19.

They explained that the Plan will have no cost for the tourist who registers in a national hotel from September 15 to December 31 of this year, as it will be covered one hundred percent by the State.

The initiative implies that each tourist who visits a hotel in the Dominican Republic will be granted an assistance plan with coverage of medical emergencies, including COVID-19, medications in assistances with hospitalization, emergency medical transportation, hotel expenses for hospitalization, expenses for flight changes due to medical emergencies and legal assistance, among others.

They highlighted that the Dominican Republic is the only country in the region that has this mechanism that will facilitate the recovery and activation of tourism and thus the revitalization of the economy, maintaining strict protection protocols, including with high-tech equipment. The plan responds to the initiatives announced on August 25 by President Luis Abinader Corona to support the tourism sector in the face of the situation generated by the COVID-19 health crisis.

Collado stated that it must be ensured that the country continues to be a safe travel destination. He recalled that the crisis generated by the covid-19 in the world negatively impacts tourism in the country that so far this year has stopped receiving more than US $ 2,500 million, representing tourism represents 15% of direct GDP and 22% indirect, with more than 83 thousand hotel rooms and about 200 thousand jobs.

Pereyra specified that the plan will cover, in addition to COVID-19, all diseases, because the objective is to guarantee visitor safety, especially in terms of health, with the innovative Safe Tourism Assistance Plan, the product of a joint effort.

Rojas highlighted the importance of tourism as the nerve center of the economy, which is why they work with the support of the BR and Mitur to guarantee solutions to the visitor, ensuring their care with specialists.