New York Times and Travel Weekly report on DR after Hurricane Maria
The New York Times says: “Tourism is the most important economic driver and the main foreign exchange earner for the region, according to the Caribbean Tourism Organization. Some places — including St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas, Sint Eustatius and Martinique — emerged mostly unscathed. In the Guadeloupe Islands, there was no damage to infrastructure, though two people were killed.”
In turn, Travel Weekly reported: “The main tourist areas in the Dominican Republic did not sustain major damage from Hurricane Maria. The touristic infrastructure of the Dominican Republic, which includes hotels, airports, ports and highways, has not suffered material damage with the passage of Hurricane Maria on the north and northwest coast of the country,” said the Association of Hotels & Tourism of the Dominican Republic in a statement. The only damage in Punta Cana, Samana and Puerto Plata was to gardens and trees falling.
“More than 50,000 tourists in hotels, primarily in Punta Cana, spent Sept. 20 and 21 in secure conditions. Those visitors relocated due to security protocols are being returned to their original hotels,” the hotel association said.
The international airports that serve Santo Domingo, Santiago, Puerto Plata, Samana and Punta Cana were not affected. The Punta Cana airport, which receives 60% of the tourists who visit the D.R., began to receive flights again on Thursday.
AMResorts had evacuated and/or moved its guests to designated on-property shelters or relocated to resorts out of the storm’s projected path.
Iberostar Hotels & Resorts said that all six of their properties in the Punta Cana/Bavaro area are fully operational and have returned to normal activities.
All government services that were suspended on Thursday have been reinstated, according to Roberto Rodriguez Marchena, spokesman for President Danilo Medina.”
Read more:
NYTimes
Travel Weekly
26 September 2017
