In the Dominican Republic, “Covid” zones in hotels so as not to stop tourism

The Dominican Republic, its paradisiacal beaches, its luxury hotels, its guards in front of the rooms ... The hotels in the Dominican Republic have transformed part of their facilities for their customers who are positive for Covid-19.

The goal: to protect a tourism industry vital to the economy, recovering from the shock of the pandemic.

Some hotels have gone so far as to set up isolated areas guarded by security guards.

The island of the West Indies, the destination of millions of people and cruise ships around the world, is one of the few countries to have kept its borders open since the start of the pandemic.

Nearly 5 million tourists visited the Dominican Republic in 2021, which is twice as many as in 2020. The destination has thus found more than three-quarters (77%) of visitors in 2019 (6.4 million visitors) and welcomed 728,000 tourists in December, a figure described as "historic" by the authorities.

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"The rooms are guarded by guards"

A policy that the country intends to pursue despite the appearance of the Omicron variant and an exploding number of cases.

On Friday, the country recorded 5,968 positives, a record, while a month ago, the number of cases per day was around 300. In total, the country of 11 million has registered 444,985 cases since the beginning. of the pandemic.

The authorities stress that the number of deaths remains low.

In the province of La Altagracia, where the famous resort of Punta Cana is located, the number of cases is exploding.

," a Chilean tourist in his forties staying on condition of anonymity told AFP. in a five star hotel.

At first, only one building was reserved for positive cases but over the days another block was opened, he said.

affected by the virus, he said.

The authorities and hotels refuse to communicate on the subject, no doubt for fear of the negative impacts on the sector.

And it is impossible to know how many tourists are confined to these areas.

The only confidence of a large hotel chain, the prices charged are

.

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Preserving health and the economy

Dominican President Luis Abinader does not seem to want to change his mind.

, ”he said on Thursday, stressing that he intended to be able to preserve the economy at the same time.

"We have managed to recover and take care of tourism, economy, jobs, currencies and hope, reaching a record number of travelers and more than 250,000 jobs in the tourism sector"

, he congratulated himself during a press conference. However, criticisms appear. The president of the Dominican College of Physicians, Senen Caba, criticized the state for being

and

However, the Senate on Wednesday approved a resolution asking the Ministry of Health to require PCR tests and proof of vaccination from all people visiting the country.

, launched Senator Yvan Lorenzo in the hemicycle.

Pending the entry into force of this resolution, travelers from France can enter without a negative PCR test on presentation of their vaccination certificate.

They must also complete the electronic entry and exit form, which combines the traveler's health declaration, customs declaration and international embarkation / disembarkation forms, available in French at the following link: migracion.gob.do.

A cruise ship docked this week in Puerto Plata (north) with 146 infected, mostly crew members.

The authorities assured that no sick would get off the ship, according to the local press.