SANTO DOMINGO.- The Dominican Republic has more than 150,000 hotel and short-term stay rooms, but around 30,000 more are needed to accommodate the influx of tourists that, according to projections, will arrive in this Caribbean land in the coming years.
“We have so many tourists that if we don’t expand the hotel supply in about two years there won’t be anywhere to put them,” said Enrique Penson, Director of Economic Studies at the Ministry of Tourism (Mitur), who maintained that the country’s tourism positioning in the region has put it on the world’s radar in terms of leading the sector in occupancy and being a preferred destination after the pandemic.
The existing 150 rooms could accommodate more than 14 million tourists annually. Total investment in the hotel industry is estimated to exceed US$15 billion. Foreign investment accounts for 54%, local investment for 14%, and mixed investment for 31%.
A publication in Listín Diario reports that Penson expressed his views at the Caribbean Hotel Investment Conference & Operations Summit (CHICOS), which took place until yesterday in the Dominican Republic, and where 300 foreign investors, hotel developers, industry suppliers, and executives of hotels located in the country and others in the region participated.
Penson said that the participating investors are part of the world's leading hotel chains, and many have already approached the Ministry of Tourism interested in doing business related to more boutique and 1,000-key hotels in this nation.
This would translate into more remodeling, expansion, and construction of hotels.
Likewise, these investors at the forum highlighted the maturity of the local tourism sector, whose indicators are in the green, compared to other Caribbean countries
Penson indicated that another key attraction for doing this type of business is the law promoting tourism investment.
This group of negotiators comes mostly from the United States, Mexico, Spain, India, among others.
One of the Dominican Republic's greatest strengths as a tourist destination is its diversification. Punta Cana has a strong Spanish investment influence, accounting for 60% of its hotel rooms.
Romana – Bayahibe has a mix of diverse investments, notably because 39% of the investment is of Italian origin, while in Sosúa-Cabarete, more than 60% of the investment is Dominican.
