BERLIN. - In the last 10 years Dominican Republic has received 26 million tourists, 12 million of them from Europe, and three million from Germany, a figure which shows a growth in the industry, said Tourism minister Felix Jiménez in inaugural of Berlin’s 4th International Tourism Bourse (ITB), where Dominican Republic is the invitee of honor.

He said despite the jump in that nation’s tourism industry, most foreigners don’t know about the changes made in the country’s tourist infrastructure, citing beach transformations in the hotels of Puerto Plata, at a cost of more than 150 million dollars, among other beach recoveries, and marine and coastal defense systems.

Jiménez said as part of the changes to benefit Dominican tourism, opening this year are the Westin-Macao hotels in Punta Cana, and the Four Seasons in La Romana; the start of construction of Punta Cana’s Ritz Carlton complex, whereas the Aman will begin construction in Rio San Juan, in 2009. "The transformations we carried out in tourism in Dominican Republic are many, thanks to president Leonel Fernandez’s vision of the future.”

The official spoke in a gathering of thousands of officials, tour operators and journalists in the Berlin Convention Center, who attended the reception hosted by Dominican Republic in the opening of the ITB-2008.