Suarez proposes to start Punta Cana construction sustainability tourism

VALENCIA. – After 40 years of sustained development, Punta Cana needs to begin a process of maturation and construction of sustainability that requires companies operating in the destination to assume a role of leaders and go beyond the limits of their establishments to meet with society , and this is important because our country cannot waste the development opportunity offered by tourism.

The point was made by Simón Suárez, vice president of the Puntacana Group and past president of ASONAHORES, in the central intervention of the First Meeting of the University of Valencia-Central University of the East-Punta Cana, entitled “Tourist Destination Punta Cana: Disruption, Innovation and Ecosystem”, held at the University of Valencia (UV) on Friday, January 24, under the collaboration agreement of this academy and the Universidad Central del Este (UCE).

Undoubtedly, said Suarez, that after 40 years of sustained tourism development, this activity needs to begin a process of maturation and construction of sustainability, assumed with the same energy and disruptive vocation of the accelerated growth achieved since the 1980s.
The speaker said that the disruptive concept applies to processes that cause a drastic or decisive change; actions that deviate from established paradigms or contradict them to create new spaces.

He argued that the effort to continue advancing requires companies to overcome the traditional corporate role and assume a new focus on development, with a greater share of responsibility with social inclusion, local culture and the environment, unavoidable conditions to ensure sustainability of the sector.

Breaking the current paradigm, said Suarez, proposes business leaders to go beyond the limits of their establishments and go to meet the society of their environment, with the country, and participate in social issues that influence the consolidation of the productive position reached by the tourism industry.

He noted that this change in the actions of entrepreneurs in Punta Cana must be inspired by the principles of the Davos 2020 Manifesto, which defines the role of the company as an entity that in addition to producing dividends for its shareholders must also provide value for its employees , suppliers, local community and society in general.

Suarez believes that the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations provide us with a record for business action and stressed that there are 17 objectives that should guide the economic and social development of our societies and each objective has its goals, which recipe book of necessary actions.

THE GREAT CHALLENGES

The sustainable tourism development agenda in Punta Cana and in other regions of the country, Suarez said, touches on delayed issues in key areas with challenges that must be resolved because they threaten the vitality of the country’s most important productive sector.

Tourism, he said, cannot exist if we do not reverse the deterioration we see in our environment, without ensuring clean water and sanitation for all; use of renewable energy; responsible production and consumption; conservation of marine and terrestrial ecosystems and in general manage resources for sustainability and climate change.

I cite some issues on the pending agenda of Punta Cana, including the integral urban planning of the Municipality Verón-Punta Cana; improve the training of average employees in the hotel industry; conservation of coasts, beaches and coral reefs; commitment of the private sector in the improvement of the basic education of the community; construction of the aqueduct and sewage treatment system in the region; private solution for the collection, management and disposal of solid waste in the region, and traffic management and modernization and provision of a world class public transport service in the region.