by Brian Major
Last updated: 5:18 PM ET, Wed March 25, 2020
The "majority" of hotels on the Dominican Republic's north coast, which include the beachside towns of Cabarete and Sosua in the Puerto Plata district, have halted operations "to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus," said an official at the Puerto Plata Destination Tourism Cluster (PPDTC) a public/private tourism promotion agency, in a local press report.
On Wednesday, César José de los Santos, president of the Association of Playa Dorada Hotels and PPDTC said north coast hotels that are still occupied "will be closing in the next few hours," in accordance with measures ordered by the government to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
He urged residents in the population to "stay at home and take the necessary measures to prevent the spread of the virus."
All properties "will be assuming the same protocol until June," de los Santos added in a statement in ResumenTurismo.com. It is "inevitable that this measure will hit the tourism industry in the world significantly," he said, especially "destinations whose main economic activity is tourism."
He urged travelers "not to cancel reservations, but to reschedule them as a way to contribute to the recovery of tourism."
"We are obliged to accept this difficult decision, but we understand that the preservation of life is first of all. We will take advantage of these days of seclusion to use our creativity and think about how we are going to continue reinventing our destiny to position Puerto Plata as a different, real, green and entertaining offer," de los Santos explained.
He added, "This will be a mission for everyone, each member of the value chain must do their part to get up, recover and move forward in the sustained way as we were doing."
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