Antonio Fungairino, Christopher Imbsen, Steven Puig, Jacqueline Mora, Alejandro Cambiaso and Salim Arkuch.
The Dominican Republic has the scale, connectivity, and maturity to become the Caribbean’s tourism hub.
The country could serve as a regional anchor for sustainable tourism and large-scale investment, leveraging its size, connectivity, and proven ability to attract capital.
This was stated by Salim Arkuch, Vice President and General Manager for Latin America and the Caribbean at Expedia Group.
The executive of one of the world’s largest travel technology and online travel agency companies explained that the Dominican Republic’s air connectivity, hotel capacity, and consolidated tourism economy allow it to operate as a gateway and dispersion point for multi-destination travel in the Caribbean, perfectly aligning with the growing demand for hotel hopping and multi-stay trips.
Arkuch spoke at the III BHD Tourism and Investment Forum, held by Banco BHD at Fitur 2026 in Madrid.
Christopher Imbsen, Vice President of Public Policy at the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), also spoke at that event, highlighting that integrating tourism into national development planning is an essential condition for the sustainable growth of the Caribbean.
He stated that tourism accounts for approximately 18% of regional GDP and is one of the main economic drivers; it must be treated as a strategic sector. This implies that decisions regarding transportation, housing, energy, land use, and human capital development cannot be made in isolation.
