Carmen Carvajal, reporting for the Listín Diario from Miami, said that the vice president of Casa de Campo, the president of Barceló Bávaro and the president of Riu Hotels, three hotel chains operating in this country, spoke at a seminar about investment in the Dominican Republic. They confirmed that their companies are continuing to increase their investments here with new hotels under construction, in view of the profitability shown by the ones currently in operation. Luis Riu announced that during the next year they will build a new 780 room hotel in Puerto Plata and another with 1,050 rooms in Bavaro. Sebastián Barceló, president of Barceló, said his company will add an eighth hotel to the seven already in service in the Bavaro area.
Ramón Menéndez, vice president of Central Romana that owns Casa de Campo in La Romana, also announced that the company is investing in the construction of a 600 room hotel in the Bayahibe beach area.
The National Hotel & Restaurant Association estimates that presently there are some 32,000 hotel rooms available for occupation in the Dominican Republic. The industry is expected to increase the number by over 10% within the next 12 months.