The "professional" property managers in Punta Cana are certainly not helping boost the numbers. Rental prices are still high. They may be waiting to see how things shape up in November and December.
You are right the people with Hotels, AIs and villas & apartments to rent need to do, what used to be taken advantage of in the record industry (when their were records), and has now become a standard marketing tool.
Loss Leaders
Promote your product at a reduced price, break even, or even a loss, to attract new and soon to be future repeat customers.
Maybe you rent your villa for 65% of normal rate now and hope to get a few Canadians, Americans or Europeans returning next season for a few weeks. They will understand when the price goes back up post Covid.
Tourists are creatures of habit in wanting to return to something familiar, where they have made a few friends, know some shops, bars, restaurants, maybe a favorite local girl and they feel they know their 'way around' - After all that is how the Timeshares came about - a marketing plan to hook the repeat destination tourist.