According to a report on hotel operations produced by Asonahores, Puerto Plata (Puerto Plata, Playa Dorada, Sosua, Cabarete) continues to be the province with the most hotel rooms, with 11,216, in 176 hotels. Maria Trinidad Sanchez province (Playa Grande, Laguna GriGri beach areas), also on the North Coast, is listed with some 1,120 rooms in 32 hotels. The next largest region is the La Romana-East Coast area with 46 hotels containing 9,424 rooms. Santo Domingo-Boca Chica has 5,004 rooms in 62 hotels. Juan Dolio is listed with 2,540 rooms at 25 hotels. Samana has 48 hotels and 1,062 rooms. The Southwest (Barahona-Azua-Bani) is listed with 588 rooms at 28 hotels. Montecristi in the Northwest has four hotels with 100 rooms.
Asonahores’ report, presented at the recent Hotel & Restaurant Convention indicates that the average occupancy in 1995 was 76.4%. This is 6.4 points up from last year, and is considered the highest in the past five years. Puerto Plata’s average occupancy is listed at 86.4% and Santo Domingo’s at 63.4%. The report indicates there are now 3,508 more hotel rooms making a total of 32,475 rooms at of the end of 1995, which maintains the country’s position as the Caribbean nation with the largest number of hotel rooms. Europe continues to be the main source of visitors to the Dominican Republic, with 64% coming from the Old World. Some 11.3% came from the United States, and 11.2% from Canada. Latin America provided 5.1% of the visitors and the Caribbean 7.3%.