San Pedro de Macorís–Miches Highway: A New Link for the Development of Tourism Circuits
Last Thursday, June 10, the Minister of Public Works and Communications announced the start of the survey work to include in the national budget the road that will connect the Eastern Highway with Miches, whose construction, he anticipates, will begin in the first quarter of 2022.
Senator Santiago Zorrilla, representing El Seibo province and the project’s main proponent, shared that the current stretch from San Pedro de Macorís to Miches is approximately 102 kilometers long. The new access road, with fewer curves, would be only 61 kilometers, a reduction of 41 kilometers.
According to information provided by Senator Santiago Zorrilla, the road that would connect Miches with the Coral Highway would put the destination one hour away from Las Américas Airport, and an hour and a half from the Dominican capital, Santo Domingo, and all the richness of its complementary tourist offerings.
The preliminary budget for the highway is $138 million for a four-lane road, or $68 million for a two-lane road. It would start in San Pedro de Macorís, passing through El Seibo and Hato Mayor, with exits for each of those provinces, before reaching Miches. It would greatly benefit the inclusion of the other municipalities and municipal districts of El Seibo province in the tourism development of the Miches destination: Santa Cruz de El Seibo, Santa Lucía, Pedro Sánchez, and San Francisco-Vicentillo. This would be achieved through a new access road with fewer curves, allowing the thousands of visitors Miches receives each year to explore and discover the wonders the rest of the province has to offer.
The current experience
Club Med Miches Playa Esmeralda already made an effort to bring tourists from its hotel in Playa Esmeralda to the beautiful cacao route in San Francisco-Vicentillo, but the current access conditions made it impossible to carry out the tour. The new access roads announced by the Minister of Public Works would make the dream of all the residents of Seibo a reality: for tourism to reach every corner of the province, improving the quality of life for its people. After all, one fact is undeniable: tourism arrived in the province through Miches, and the better we connect the rest of the province with Miches, the more efficiently tourism resources will be distributed among all its people.
It’s important to clarify that the strategy of forcing tourists into towns by building access roads from within, instead of creating external access points and establishing exits, has proven to have a negative impact on their development and urban planning. A prime example is what happened in the town of Miches with traffic and land use planning after the decision was made to route the Uvero Alto – Miches – Sabana de la Mar highway through the town center. If a municipality intends to rely on tourism, it must develop an attractive offering that motivates visitors to take the appropriate exit and come to enjoy the area as part of their travel itinerary. Trying to force tourists to navigate narrow streets, poorly parked vehicles, and constant pedestrian and motorcycle traffic, among other realities of city centers, is taking the easy way out, which in no way leads to organized development and sustainable well-being over time.
However, in general terms, the positive impact of the Uvero Alto – Miches – Sabana de la Mar highway, inaugurated in 2015, has been immediate and evident. Not only did it enable hotel development in the area, but it has also enriched Punta Cana’s tourism offerings by highlighting Miches’ attractions. The increased visitation, especially on weekends, has fostered the development of tourism-related businesses in the restaurant and transportation sectors, boosting Miches’ economy and promoting a tourism culture in the region.
New circuits, more competitiveness
It is expected that the new San Pedro de Macorís – Miches highway will generate a similar positive impact by creating three new, mutually enriching circuits: San Pedro de Macorís – Miches, La Romana – Miches, and Santo Domingo – Miches, as exemplified by Punta Cana and Bávaro in the previous paragraph. This would be further enhanced by the Miches – Samaná connection via the recently inaugurated Miches tourist pier, although its use has so far been limited to a photo opportunity, delaying its full development as a tourist destination. But that will be the subject of a future article.
In this regard, Yamil Isaías, president of the El Seibo-Miches Hotel and Tourism Association (Promiches), agreed on the strategic importance of the project announced by Minister Deligne Asención for strengthening mutually beneficial tourism circuits. He also noted that the development of tourism circuits that enrich the tourism offerings and improve the country’s competitiveness has been a global trend in the sector, transforming destinations into allies that collaborate to enhance the visitor experience, rather than mere competitors.
Little by little, Miches is building its new reality and is on its way to becoming one of the most competitive tourist destinations in the country and the region. The road is still long, and much remains to be proven, but it has started off on the right foot. It is urgent that the community residing in Miches, and in the province of El Seibo, become aware of the level of development taking place in their province, organize themselves, and train themselves so they can integrate into and participate in the economic growth and prosperity. That old habit of throwing stones at everything new, because it is not understood or simply because it cannot be controlled, must be left in the past. Instead, they must welcome the new opportunities that are already being created and that are available first to those who live here, because if they don’t take advantage of them, others will come and seize them. The facts are there.
In 2009, while pursuing my master's degree in tourism at the University of Alcalá, I encountered a fascinating subject: Social Market Economy. It was the first time I had analyzed sustainability as an integral part of the business, not just the market. At a micro level, it's somewhat similar to Michael Porter and Mark Kramer's concept of Shared Value. And I believe there's a lot of this in the current understanding of sustainability. I think sustainability should be understood as a business strategy for managing environmental and social risks. It's also a tool that enhances a company's ability to manage relationships with its high-value strategic stakeholders, and therefore has the potential to add value to the brand.
