Tourism in danger?

[NewsWhore]

According to Enrique de Marchena Kaluche, president elect of the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA), stagnation in the Dominican tourist sector and reduced local investment into the country's hotels are two tourism trends for 2007. Marchena says that between January and October 3,294,012 tourists (2,830,6610 foreigners) visited the DR, which is almost exact same number as in 2006. Marchena added that investment in local hotels by local businesspeople has declined by 13.8% and that Spanish investors have polarized the market, controlling 66.1% of the hotel rooms in the country. He says that the strength of the euro, increased presence of Spanish chains, combined with low rates in the Spanish market have led to this polarization.

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