The Dominican ambassador before the WTO has addressed concerns over the growth in number of hotel rooms versus demand. Critics say this imbalance has resulted in a drop in tourism revenues. The World Tourism Organization statistics show that tourist receipts in the DR have declined from US$683 in 1985 to US$620 in 1999. The opposite has happened in Costa Rica. Federico Cuello says this is because there is more competition for air space in Costa Rica, while in the DR most tourists arrive by charter and American Airlines is by far the dominant carrier. He explains that in Costa Rica most of the hotels operate under international franchises and few are owned by tour operator affiliates. According to the International Federation of Tour Operators, the DR only receives 45% of the foreign exchange generated by the holiday packages sold here. He proposes the construction of a different type of hotel, one that caters to the individual traveler not the package traveler. (21 May 2001)
