A front page news story in the Listín Diario carries a report from the National Association of Hotels and Restaurants (ASONAHORES) that six new hotels will open by the end the year, adding 2,581 guest rooms to the country’s tourism capacity. This should bring the DR’s total capacity to 41,608, an increase of 9% over 1997. Among the hotels slated for opening is a 528-room Meliá hotel this month in Bávaro. The Grupo Casa Marina will open the 368-room Casa Marina Residencia en Sosua and the 200-room Casa Marina Samaná in Samaná. ASONAHORES reported that another dozen hotels are under construction, including a new 518-room Iberostar hotel in Puerto Plata. ASONAHORES says it has confirmed that 2,715 rooms will be added to Dominican capacity in 1999, while hotels totaling another 1,094 rooms have yet to set opening dates. The association also reported yesterday that in the first three quarters of 1998, the occupancy rate in the DR capital, Santo Domingo , was 67%, compared to 61% in the same period last year.
