With a new reality in terms of room offers, ranging from hotels, villas, condominiums, aparthotels, to residences, the northern zone has almost no lodging, just at the beginning of the Holy Week.
This was affirmed by hoteliers Roberto Casoni and Joel Santos, who informed that the occupancy for Holy Week began over the weekend, and will have a peak from Thursday, which represents a great economic dynamism in the entire northern zone and its tourist products, since beyond the all-inclusive, those who are staying in Puerto Plata, Sosúa or Cabarete, go out to make life in this tourist zone.
Santos, advisor to the Executive Power in matters of tourism, affirms that it is very difficult to count the number of rooms they have, because they are not only talking about hotel rooms but there are also many rooms through real estate units that are rented, but he assures that they have very good expectations.
Accelerated change
Tourism is undergoing a process of accelerated change, it was doing so before the pandemic, but undoubtedly it has accelerated during the pandemic, when people began to visualize the idea of staying in family units, as a way to have more control of the isolation they managed at that time, and the discovery of this modality of stay has accelerated”, said Santos.
He also said that many hotels have changed the concept, becoming condominiums, and these units are in demand for this Easter, and also have a significant proliferation of villas and apartments that are added especially at this time. Stating that there are no longer rooms available, Roberto Casoni says that the destination of the north zone in general is variable, so it is very difficult to know the occupancy statistics.
“It is not like before that everything was measured based on hotels, now there are many people who come and rent apartments, that is, the offer is very diversified: hotels, villas, condominiums, aparthotels, so it is a very consolidated destination. The villas are not counted, neither are the apartments, in the whole country there are many structures that are not counted, but I can affirm that everything is full”, he said. Both hoteliers agree that for this date the local tourism increases, but they also receive the traditional tourism, composed by Americans, Canadians, Europeans.
Puerto Plata is more than sun and beaches
Santos emphasizes that this high occupancy clearly benefits this northern zone of the country, which has complementary offers, attractions for people to enjoy, such as the cable car, a first class golf course, rivers, mountains, an interesting gastronomy, and a city full of history and tradition. “All of that is put together so that people can enjoy new elements from a tourism point of view,” Santos said. There is also the option of people who come for a day at the beaches and other attractions or those who have a tradition of touring the entire coast.
