The Ministry of Tourism published an advertisement in Hoy newspaper (16 August) with tourism numbers. The advertisement highlights the fact that travel to the Dominican Republic is up from 1,925,565 tourists in 1996 to 3,965,055 in 2006, according to statistics the Ministry has at hand. For 2004, travel was at 3,450,392 tourists. It also points out that the number of hotel rooms has increased from 36,273 in 1996 to 63,206 in 2006, representing a 31.5% increase. There were 58,932 rooms in 2004. Tourism Minister Felix Jimenez said that in the past three years of his term at the Ministry of Tourism the government has spent RD$1.6 billion on tourism infrastructure and from August 2004 to July 2007, the Ministry of Tourism has invested US$60,640,000 on advertising abroad.