With the surge in US travellers seeking nearby places to visit and the advent of US and European airlines seeking to take part in the boom, Puerto Plata is being rediscovered. The change is also being attributed to the strength of the Canadian market with its charter flights having reverted to regularly scheduled flights. This winter, Puerto Plata enjoyed record numbers and recouped 2000 levels. Travel is up by 25%, representing approximately 60,000 to 85,000 visitors a month.

For its revival, Puerto Plata is banking on its built-in qualities, but this time around it is also focusing on the relatively large community and cily adjacent to the beach resorts, in addition to large extensions of residential communities, where retirees and foreign expatriates have chosen to make Puerto Plata their home.

Thus, Puerto Plata has been roused by a new wave of tourism and investment Now, however, customers' expectations are higher and stakeholders in Puerto Plata have acknowledged the reality that to take an active part in this growth they must expand their tourism services to attract private-sector funding, sponsorship and joint-project initiatives, as well as to secure public-sector funding in order to create the mechanisms to generate external funds and sustainable touristic development

Puerto Plata's strengths include the fact that its a multi-site destination. Studies have identified the strength of the Puerto Plata province in relation to its context as a central part of the North Coast experience. No other destination can offer such a diversified experience all within one hour's drive to the west (including Costambar, Cofresi and La Isabela) and within another hour's drive to the east (Costa Dorada, Playa Dorada, Sosua and Cabarete).

This variety gives Puerto Plata a definite edge. Cofresf boasts several restaurants, a beach and the Ocean World park Nearby is also La Isabela, the current site of a museum and park where visitors can easily see, on the merits of its natural beauty, why Columbus chose to build the first settlement here.