In a world of possibilities, why only enjoy seven days in front of the beaches of Cap Cana, Dominican Republic, when can you invest in real estate tourism? In fact, the latter combines two of the sectors with the most foreign direct investment (IED), according to the Export and Investment Center (ProDominicana).
According to data from the state body, while FDI in tourism amounted to US$1,011 million in 2022, in real estate it was US$483 million, positioning itself among the three lines that generated the most foreign currency that year. Examples of how the offer is expanded at a national level for both foreigners and locals can be seen in Cap Cana.
As expressed by the executive president of the tourist complex and the Dominican Association of Real Estate Tourism Companies (Adeti), Jorge Subero Medina, investment in real estate seeks a diversification of tourism in the Dominican Republic.
“We have to continue creating and providing new rooms, because hoteliers will have, and have, a ceiling,” he says. In this sense, the real estate sector will complement the hotel offer. “The great challenge is to achieve what we have achieved: diversification. Having a theme park, condominiums, villas, golf courses…”, he stated.
For his part, the vice president of development and operations of Cap Cana, Héctor Baltazar, pointed out that the so-called “Destination CityIt is more than a complex. “We have been designing a space where practically the number of amenities that any citizen could have converges,” she said. Likewise, he took the opportunity to highlight that they have a combination of hotels, as well as a real estate area for condominiums and residences.
“Adding to that we have a complementary offer in which we combine ecological parks, the largest in the Dominican Republic, the escape park, the Marina, also the largest in the Caribbean, with some 157 mooring positions. We have the Punta Espada golf course, as well as a second… Las Iguanas Golf Residences”, he detailed.
Investment in real estate tourism
For Subero, the acquisition of properties in tourist areas must be seen as more than just a house. “If we go to the financial aspect, when you make the investment in real estate tourism, that becomes an asset in your financial statements. In other words, in front of a bank, you already have a property next to you… if you go to hotel tourism, you don’t necessarily have to buy to spend one night,” he said.
Likewise, for the executive, everyone who acquires a property “makes their friends, their colleagues come and enjoy the country constantly.” Bets like Cap Cana offer a new alternative within the all-inclusive.
He explains that, within the tourist destination, the investor can find supermarkets, churches, and a variety of gastronomic points. “That means that you can have more than 5,000 diners seated at the same time in our destination city,” he said. As a result, Subero details that they have developed and put into operation a city for all tourists and Dominicans, where the real estate, hotel, gastronomic, cultural and sports tourism. “All of that in one place,” she added.
In this sense, he understands that greater value must be added to the sector. “We have to continue encouraging another type of tourism and that people, tourists, come to live in the Dominican Republic, live with the Dominican and why not do it in a place like our destination city,” he commented.
Sustainability
According to the executives, in Cap Cana 100% of the water is collected and reused. “That is a sustainable community,” they added. In addition, 20% of the energy demand is supplied by solar panels and they have a foundation that ensures the conservation of corals on the property’s coast.
“What we have is more than a project, it is a city that is in constant development and growth”, he highlights. As a result, investments exceed US$2.5 billion. Likewise, it translates into about 16,000 jobs directly and indirectly.
They also ensure that they have a policy of helping all collaborators “in everything that corresponds”. This is how they understand that sustainability is not only environmental, but also social responsibility. Baltazar, for his part, highlights that of the great strengths that the destination city of Cap Cana has, which reached its 20th anniversary last year.
“It is that since its conceptualization it has been a planned space,” he says. In fact, he affirms, it is the largest urban planning project in the Dominican Republic, which began with a master plan authorized by the Dominican State and by the different institutions.
“This planning allows us to look at the macro. That is, where we want to go and have distributed and conceptualized different spaces to be able to locate areas of higher density, lower density, give a projected use to what is the 10 km of coastline that we have, ”he indicated. They ended by inviting the tourism sector to reinvent itself and diversify.
overall development
In the city, which covers 110 million square meters or 30,000 acres, more than US$3.6 billion has been invested, of which US$1.5 billion is in infrastructure. The foregoing translates into more than 100 km of paved road work, 150 km of underground fiber optics for telecommunicationmore than 29.1 MW of generation and more than 120 KM of power distribution lines, potable water tanks with a capacity to supply 18 thousand cubic meters per day and wastewater facilities.
It has an aqueduct with 112 km (70 miles) of infrastructure for potable water, irrigation and wastewater services. It has more than 7,000 bedrooms in operation, 1,300 under construction and nine luxury hotels, for 5.3% of the total hotel housing supply in the province the altagracia.
It has contributed more than US$2,812 million in capital investment and more than US$1,225 million have entered for the operation and administration of the tourist and residential complex. In fact, it has contributed to the Treasury of the Social Security, in 20 years, about US$9.7 million, while in terms of ITBIS, it reaches about US$15 million to the public treasury, although it enjoys tax exemption in some taxes due to the Tourism Development Council (Confotur).