Above: the Playa Grande Beach Club

Caribbean hotels are off to a very slow start so far in 2016, according to new data from hotel analytics firm STR.

The region’s hotels reported occupancy of 74 percent in March, down 4.5 percent compared to March 2015.

It was the largest single-month decline in the Caribbean since April 2013.

That followed a similarly sluggish showing in February, when Caribbean hotel occupancy fell by 3.9 percent year over year to 75.6 percent.

For the year, hotel occupancy in the Caribbean stood at 73.1 percent through March, down 3.3 percent from the first quarter of 2015.

While average daily rates rose by 1.8 percent to $293.51 percent last month, the region’s hotels saw a 2.8 percent decline in revenue per available room to $217.32.

STR’s data surveyed 1,940 hotels comprising 236,806 rooms in the Caribbean.

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By the Caribbean Journal staff

The Dominican Republic has high hopes for 2016.

The country is projecting a total of 6 million total stayover visitors this year, according to the country’s Ministry of Tourism.

That projection comes after the country easily led the entire Caribbean in total visitor numbers last year, with just under 5.6 million.

The Dominican Republic already saw a growth rate of 8 percent in the first quarter of 2016.

The country has a stated goal of reaching 10 million annual tourist arrivals by 2023, an ambition first revealed in 2013.

the numbers were revealed on the heels of the DATE tourism conference in Punta Cana last week.

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