Puerto Plata, DR.- The arrival of tourists by air to Puerto Plata has not enjoyed the same abundance as the arrival of tourists by sea. While the cruise segment contributed a record number of 1.2 million visitors in the first half of this year, the tourist flow by plane, on the other hand, suffered a marked drop that has sown concern in the hotel sector and in receptive operators on the North coast.
In this sense, the general director of Turissimo Caribe Excursiones, Mitchell Musa, warned President Luís Abinader and the Minister of Tourism, David Collado, that the hotels in Puerto Plata will only be able to operate in the winter and will have to close in the summer if their market isn’t stimulated with more promotion and publicity.
He recalled that at the time President Abinader said that “when the Punta Bergantín hotels are built and the destination is promoted, that will improve”.
The manager emphasized that they don’t believe that they can stay open for three more summers in the precarious conditions in which the hotels in this resort are operating.
Musa expressed the concerns of the hotel sector during the recent meeting that Abinader held with representatives of the field of hospitality and leisure at the Gran Ventana hotel in the Playa Dorada tourist and real estate complex.
The also former president of the Organization of Receptive Tourism Operators of the Dominican Republic (Opetur) indicated that Tourism has made a “limited promotion of Puerto Plata”, considered that much more should be done, because until now there has been no result.
“We need promotion and more promotion, since it is not enough to invest in an ad, but you have to invest in a great campaign and make sure that the results that are pursued with that promotional and advertising action will be obtained,” he emphasized.