The Ministry of Tourism has confirmed that approximately 5,000 tourists who were stranded in Miami, Cancun, and the Mayan Riviera are being taken to hotels in Puerto Plata and Punta Cana destinations in the DR. Reports are that the tourists arrived on charter flights, mostly from Cancun. The Ministry is expecting an additional 5,000 in the coming hours. The tourists were relocated after Hurricane Wilma damaged hotels and tourist areas in Mexico and Florida last week. Andrew Cooper, director general of the Federation of Tour Operators of the United Kingdom, said that about 4,000 British tourists would be relocated to hotels in the DR as an intermediate point instead of having them flown back to the UK.