Growing “drag” tourism in the economy of RD
Santo Domingo, RD.- The figures on domestic consumption of goods and services, generation of jobs and foreign exchange, attraction of foreign direct investment and the demand for financing in national banking show that tourism is one of the activities with the greatest links of the economy, of greater transversality.
With a weighting greater than a third of all the currencies generated by the economy, more than 8% of the country’s total gross domestic product (GDP) and almost 9% of employment in the Dominican labor market, formal and informal, the so-called ” industry without a fireplace “continues to consolidate the definition given to it by the” locomotive “that moves the economy.
The study “Dominican Tourism, a sea of opportunities” entrusted by the Banco Popular Dominicano and Asonahores to the firm Analytica, shows the impact of the Hotels, Bars and Restaurants (HBR) component, which is the center of the tourism sector.
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The research, focused on the behavior of 2015, shows the degree of incidence of the HBR sector in the Dominican economy, calculating by then a weighting of 8.2% of the total added value, which in absolute figures was US $ 5,233 million. “Expanding a bit more, the HBR sector is relatively large when compared to other sectors of the Dominican economy, generating 1 out of every 12 pesos of added value in the economy,” said the study in the executive summary, reporting at the same time time that the sectors of greater weight have equally important connection with the sector hotels, bars and restaurants via the chain of supply.
The study reflected in a table the figures of the sector and explained that the sector’s cycle has an important impact on the economy, stating that it boosts economic growth not only because of its direct impact, but also its indirect impact on the general dynamics of the economy.
Tourism as an activity has been promoted by the State through an incentive policy aimed at expanding the benefits of the sector. By condition, the sector, as calculated by the study, represents a tax burden approximately half of the average of the economy.
El turismo no escapa al impacto de la informalidad de la economía, con una incidencia mayor que la proporción general. Según las cifras del estudio de Analytica, el 41.09% de los empleos del sector ( 136,670 de 332,589) era formal, frente a un 49.12% (1,939,411 de 3,948,139) de la economía en general.