Local tourism, the lifeline of the hotel industry in Puerto Plata

 The local market contributes 80% of the visitors that this destination receives

 Domestic demand fills Puerto Plata hotels on weekends

Local visitors have been the support of the hotel industry of the tourist destination Puerto Plata, affected by the coronavirus pandemic since, according to José Natalio Redondo, president of the Association of Hotels of the North(Ashonorte), 80% of the tourists who are received by the Bride of the Atlantic are local. The remaining 20% do not reside in the country.

“During the strongest days of the pandemic Puerto Plata did not close thanks to local tourism,” he said.

He also highlighted the boom in real estate tourism among Dominican families.

According to him, there are weekends where the rooms that the industry has in Puerto Plata do not supply the national demand.

“We have an impressive return of local tourism, especially from the provinces of Cibao and the National District,” Redondo said, according to Diario Libre.

The authorities estimate that 35% of the 18 thousand rooms that Puerto Plata has corresponds to real estate tourism.

Meanwhile, Ginette Bournigal, senator of Puerto Plata, highlighted as one of the primary support of the tourism industry that of the athletes who visit the golf course of the Playa Dorada complex.

“I want to thank the Dominican tourist who has come to fill the hotels on weekends,” she said while assuring that the excursions boost the informal economy.