Above: the ribbon cutting this week (Photo: OPDR)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

At DATE, the Dominican Republic’s major tourism conference in April, Vice Minister Radhames Martinez Aponte said the country was looking to “relaunch” tourism in Puerto Plata.

That effort received a major boost on Friday with the unveiling of the expansion of Puerto Plata International Airport in Sosua.

“The truth is that there has been a major refurbishment and expansion to the airport, especially at a time when we want to relaunch Puerto Plata,” Dominican Republic President Danilo Medina said at the launch.

The airport underwent a remodeling to raise service quality, operations and facilities, according to Juan Carlos Torres, president of the board of directors of Aerodom, which manages and operates six airports in the country.

It’s one of several initiatives aimed at boosting tourism in Puerto Plata, including the plan to build what Tourism Minister Francisco Javier Garcia called “the most modern in the Caribbean.”

Another 1,440 hotel rooms will also be inaugurated in the province “in no time,” Garcia said.

It’s all part of the Dominican Republic’s wider plan of eventually attracting 10 million annual tourists by 2023.