SANTO DOMINGO.- Tourism minister Francisco Javier Garcia is convinced that Dominican tourism will surface unscathed from the global financial crisis, as he said has occurred in other occasions.

Yesterday the official said his arguments aren’t just based on optimism, citing that the industry’s growth until November was 2 percent.

He also spoke of his plans to improve the environs of the resort regions.

“Tourism is infallible to the great crises because it has withstood all of them,” he said, adding that despite the global financial crisis’ impact on the tourist business, Dominican Republic’s industry grew from January to November, compared with the same period last year.

Garcia said the tourist activity in general has been able to withstand five crises: the United States real estate problems, the jump in oil prices, the fall in food production, and the difficulties in the financial and equity markets.

He said the number of tourists from the United States - the financial fiasco’s epicenter and simultaneously the country’s main market, grew 1.61 percent this year.

As to the winter season that begins in December, he said it has begun well, above the expectations in a year that been has been marred by an economic crisis of global dimensions.

Interviewed by the Corripio Communications Group, Garcia said three fundamental zones sustain the Dominican tourism market: North America, Europe and the emergent countries.

United States, Canada and Mexico account for 50 percent of the tourists; Europe 39.8 percent and emergent countries 10 percent.

The number of tourists from North America grew 4.52 percent from January to November, although from Europe there was a 2 percent loss, “because when periods of crisis take place the most affected markets are the far destinations.”

Garcia stressed that despite those negative numbers, France, the European country that brings the most tourists to the country, grew 3 this year.

He said the figures from the countries known as emergent such as Russia grew 88 percent; Poland 83 percent; Argentina 29 percent; Chile 38 percent and Peru 43 percent. “So what we must do is to define strategies for 2009, to cushion the negative part that’s projected for the summer.”