Today marks the beginning of a new chapter for our company and our family. We proudly announce the launch of Tropicalia; a tourist luxury destination, on the south coast of Samaná in Esmeralda Beach, Dominican Republic.
My relationship with Costa Esmeralda, in the Dominican Republic, is like those relationships resulting from love at first sight. Ever since I saw it from up above, 25 years ago, I was sure that I was given the opportunity to do something different with my life; something that would also help us give the country what it had given us up till then and is still giving us: the warmth of its people and the beauty of its environment. This is what the Dominican Republic –our second home, a special place– does; thus our proposal had to be special too. This is how Tropicalia was born almost ten years ago.
Throughout this period, we have invested in the community and the environment of Miches, being aware that they are the most important things. We wanted to make sure we would set up foundations to ensure the sustainability of anything we intended to do, and we have succeeded. The model we have decided to use –the public-private alliance– has had a lot to do with this. We have worked together with the Ministry of Public Works, the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Education, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Multilateral Investment Fund of the IDB, as well as other national and international foundations.
Education has been the focus of many efforts. Today we can say that, thanks to the Tropicalia Foundation, over three thousand students have improved their skills and school results. Furthermore, 250 professors have improved their teaching and knowledge skills.
Over 210 million pesos invested in programs intended to improve the community’s productive skills aiming at becoming part of the chain of value, have given a boost to entrepreneurship and financial education of more than twenty thousand people in Miches and nearby locations.
Yesterday we took our first step to continue our walk with the idea that the already achieved well-being be maintained and grow. The construction of the Four Seasons Tropicalia hotel will change the luxury tourism paradigm in the Dominican Republic; it certainly means a qualitative and quantitative huge leap with an incalculable range of value for the country that will bring about a new era of projects of this caliber.
Four Seasons Tropicalia will have 169 keys, apart from the 40 Four Season residences; a wonderful golf course, and various amenities that will be part of the first phase of Tropicalia as a whole.
This means an investment of 310 million dollars through two years. During the construction and operation period of the Four Seasons Tropicalia, it will employ 1,800 people. Having this sustainable, luxury hotel is part of the low density and low environmental impact real estate development in the area, the Cisneros Real Estate’s flagship.
During these years we have learned vastly from Costa Esmeralda, its people and its environment. This was required for maintaining the sustainability of a project such as Tropicalia. Today, we are sure to have a strong, robust and healthy tree planted.
Thanks to all Dominicans for making this project a reality.
