For the first time in 32 years, a cruise liner, The World, coming from the Bahamas with 170 couples on board, entered Puerto Plata Harbor. The 340 passengers are part of the so-called “condominium tourism” which uses cruise ships to vacation in different parts of the Caribbean and Europe.
Tourism and port authorities were there to welcome the ship, which tied up at the local port at 7:30am.
The cruisers got off the boat and visited places of historical interest and stores, where they spent thousands of dollars, giving a welcome boost to Puerto Plata’s economy.
“This will represent the dynamics and a definitive start of cruise ship tourism, which was started here in the 1980s and 90s,” said Cesar de los Santos, Deputy Minister of Tourism for the North Coast, who added that the cruise ship will arrive weekly in Puerto Plata until the month of February, so they expect somewhere between 1,600 and 2,000 tourists.
The Carnival Corporation has plans to build a cruise line terminal in Puerto Plata with the capacity to receive two ships, each with 4,000 passengers, at the same time. This project is scheduled to begin next year.