The DR could have nearly 50,000 hotel rooms operational at the start of the millennium. In 1998, there were 43,000 hotel rooms in the DR. Luis Simó, deputy minister of Tourism predicts the privatization of the airports will attract new investments. He was speaking during the Bolsa Turística de la RD, the large travel exhibition fair held over the weekend in Santo Domingo. Fair organizer, Luis Felipe Aquino highlighted the sustained growth of tourism over the past 15 years. Aquino cited statistics showing that in 1998, 2,309 million tourists visited, generating US$2,142 million in hard currency and resulting in jobs for 204,010 persons. The US, Germany, England, Canada, Italy and Spain are the principal source markets for DR-bound tourists.
