The Diario Libre reports a ?vigorous recovery? being made in the Dominican hotel sector. Sim?n Suarez, president of the Caribbean Hotel Association, in a television interview on Thursday claimed that although occupancy rates have not returned to the levels of the year 2000, a recovery is indeed under way. He attributes this positive trend to the Dominican Republic’s international promotional campaigns and the fact that the US market is being targeted seriously for the first time. According to figures from the Central Bank, airports saw an increase in passenger traffic in January 2003, up by 29 percent from January of the year before. Suarez called for continued re-investment in tourism promotion and mentioned the possibility of the Caribbean as a ‘multiple destination’. He pointed out, however, that this would not be practical as long as barriers such as lengthy visa application procedures and high airport taxes are in place. The newspaper also reports in a separate article that Tourism Minister Rafael Suberv? Bonilla called for greater diversification of the Dominican tourist industry at a seminar entitled ?Eco-Tourism and Rural Tourism as a Complement to Sun and Sea?.