Santo Domingo hotels have been booked throughout July with excellent prospects for August. The revived Merengue Festival, an overall success this year, attracted thousands of Puerto Ricans. Hotels are also seeing a surge in bookings as hundreds of businessmen come in to develop new ties with the government and Dominican businessmen.
According to Jaime Tió, president of the Association of Hotels of Santo Domingo, bookings are up to the levels of 1990 and 1991 when there were overbookings in the summer. A report in the Hoy newspaper says that the Sheraton, Hispaniola, Napolitan, Continental, V Centanario, Jaragua, Santo Domingo, Plaza Naco, Delta, Plaza Colonial, Cervantes, among others had occupation rates of at least 85%. The Association hopes that the boom signals the reversal of the adverse trend the city was experiencing as a result of politics, power cuts and the loss of business to the seaside resorts.