This project implemented in the 14 provinces of the northern region or Cibao of the Dominican Republic with the objective of strengthening the capacities and coordination mechanisms for facilitating the development of TCS with public-private participation in the Northern Region, under the execution of the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (MEPyD), National Institute of Professional Technical Training (INFOTEP) with the support of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) from 2016 to March 2022.

The TCS tries to be a local solution with a global impact, knowing that in the specific case of tourism development in the Dominican Republic it has been based on traditional aspects such as the development of tourism offers by foreign investors, being the national local participation in decision-making at an operational level and where the reinvestment of economic benefits is not contemplated in the communities, creating a scenario of challenges to promote and facilitate community management of tourism, giving a more active role to the participation of local members in decision making; Diversify the tourist offer by promoting the creation of tourist products managed from the communities to enhance local pride, authenticity, uniqueness and identity; Facilitate the empowerment and articulation of community people for concerted planning to take advantage of the endogenous potential of the territories.

Through the practice in the northern region in this Project, it was shown that tourism development in which the community plays a leading role works as a new model of tourism development in which the region plays a central role. Using this model, regional tourism can continue and grow stronger in the future.

Below, we present a summary of the most relevant results of the Sustainable Community Tourism project in the Dominican Republic: