TORONTO — The Dominican Republic is still riding a wave of increased tourism, with its Central Bank projecting a successful third and fourth quarter in 2017.

A total of 3.5 million visitors arrived in the DR in the first six months of the year, up 6.7% from the same period last year. The country’s historic capital, Santo Domingo, saw a 10% increase in tourist numbers for the first quarter of 2017 compared to the same quarter in 2016, with 214,393 tourists arriving from January to March.

New hotels in the DR are expected to boost tourism even further for the remainder of 2017. Six brand new Selina hotels are being built across the country, scheduled for completion by year’s end. The luxurious Hideaway at Royalton will soon open its doors in Punta Cana, Temptation Hotels & Resorts will open a 496-room property, also in Punta Cana, by the end of 2019, while Playa Hotels & Resorts has already broken ground on two Cap Cana resorts, Hyatt Ziva and Hyatt Zilara.

Barceló Hotel Group has invested US$110 million into renovating 12 of its most important Latin American hotels, including three properties in the DR: Occidental Caribe, Occidental Punta Cana and El Embajador in Santo Domingo. Meanwhile, Santo Domingo’s beloved Hotel Francés will also be refurbished into a 20-room hotel as part of efforts to rebuild the area by the Dominican Republic Ministry of Tourism.

Beyond the DR’s most popular resort areas, there’s Montecristi, located in the northwest region close to Puerto Plata, which has seen a 60% increase in hotel reservations for summer 2018. Additionally, in order to encourage tourism in Pedernales, President Danilo Medina announced plans to bring 3,000 hotel rooms and a modern international airport to the region.

The DR is working towards achieving its goal of welcoming 10 million tourists in 2017. With 7,300 hotel rooms currently in development, the country is expected to have 82,500-plus total hotel rooms and 13 new hotels by the end of the year.