SANTO DOMINGO.- A mere 2% of the tourists choose to visit the country’s South region, according to tour operator Linnette Arbaje, who stressed the need to diversify the tourism offer and use the virtually virgin zone to spearhead that policy.

“It’s important to empower the provinces and create awareness of their tourist attractions, so they allow neither the invasion nor the exploitation of their misery. That they understand that they can live with dignity off of their touristic attractions," Arbaje said yesterday in the Seminar for the South Region Tour Operators,

Moreover the environmentalist Ramon Narpier stressed the need to promote the South region’s sustainable tourism development, “in which the zone’s wealth in biodiversity may be exploited," and generate funds without harming the environment.

Iris Perez, Tourism Vice minister for Training affirmed that to manage the South zone’s exploitation, from Santo Domingo to Pedernales and the border region, the area of Enriquillo lake, Pelempito canyon, the Bahoruco Mountain Range, Bahia de las Aguilas and other areas, its inhabitants and tour operators need to be trained to know their own region’s natural, cultural and social qualities and attractions, without the need to be part of the system of all included resorts.

SOURCE: diariolibre.com.do