The Dominican Republic will host the first joint African-American conference on international tourism.
The Dominican Republic’s Deputy Tourism Minister Carlos Peguero revealed the proposal to hold the conference in Spain.
Giving details of the first-ever meeting between the two regions, Carlos Peguero said the event, titled the “1st Africa-America Bi-Regional United Nations Tourism Conference”, is scheduled to take place on 3-4 October 2024 in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
Furthermore, the bi-regional conference aims to strengthen African-American cooperation, recognize and leverage the cultural diversity and tourism products shared by both countries, and ultimately promote tourism promotion and development in both regions.
“Our main objective is to strengthen South-South relations and cooperation. In addition to that, we would like to look at cultural diversity in terms of tourism products, what both sides can produce and how we can help each other to continue to promote tourism development,” Peguero said.
The event will also recognize Africa’s significant historical and cultural influence on the United States, where a large portion of the population is of African descent.
According to Peguero, “A very important element is the recognition of African heritage in America, because even though the Spanish colonized America in some ways, there was also the colonization of America by Africa. They may not have been voluntary, but they were brought there and became part of America. Africa is part of the historical, cultural and culinary heritage of everything American.”
The conference also aims to advance the plan to establish a United Nations Tourism Office in the Americas, which began in discussions between Carlos Peguero and the Brazilian Minister of Tourism. The bi-regional conference therefore also aims to provide a platform for continued meetings and to strengthen cooperation between Africa and the Americas.
Meanwhile, Dominican Republic Ambassador to Spain Anabel Bueno Santana Forens said she was confident that the conference would bring about the desired outcomes, including strengthening regional cooperation and technical assistance, and sharing best practices with each other.
“This will reveal new opportunities that we can explore together. We will focus on what happens next for the UN Tourism Office in Brazil, since investment is one of the main agendas. Everything will feed into a roadmap that will help put together next steps and monitoring,” said Ambassador Anabel Bueno Santana Forens.
On the US side, efforts are already underway to involve African countries in the event: “The support of our Directors for Africa and Latin America is crucial as liaisons between the two regions. Meanwhile, we will keep our lines of communication open, meet with ministers and reach out to their UN ambassadors in preparation for the event.”
“Between now and then, our goal is to unite African countries, gather information so that they too feel that this event is theirs and that everyone can participate,” concluded the Dominican Republic’s ambassador to Spain.
