Above: Punta Cana (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The Dominican Republic is building its infrastructure to bring the country “one tourist for every inhabitant,” according to Dominican Republic President Danilo Medina.

The Dominican Republic has a population of around 9.45 million, which would essentially fall in line with the country’s stated goal of attracting 10 million annual visitors to the country by 2023.

Medina said countries like Spain, Puerto Rico and Jamaica had sought to manage their tourism development according to a calculation of one tourist per capita. Spain has far eclipsed that rate, although neither Puerto Rico nor Jamaica has yet achieved it.

A number of countries in the Caribbean have managed to bring in tourists at a rate of one per capita, however, from the Cayman Islands and Anguilla to St Lucia and St Kitts and Nevis, among others.

“We believe that the Dominican Republic can get it and is doing all the investments that are needed,” Medina said Monday.

Medina was speaking following the opening ceremony of the International Seminar on the Management of Tourist Destinations of Cultural Patrimony at the Occidental El Embajador hotel in Santo Domingo.

He pointed to projects like the planned remodeling of the Navarrete-Puerto Plata highway to give a “boost” to tourism in the area.