| May 24, 2005 |
- DR gets two in Golf Digest list
- USA 3000 Punta Cana airplane
- The beautiful Zoe Saldaña
- Mariasela nightly on TV in Spain
- Casa Colonial, the find of 2005
- Ban on motorized transit on beaches
|
DR gets two in Golf Digest list
Five Dominican golf courses were ranked among the top 100 golf courses
outside the United States by Golf Digest magazine. Casa de Campo’s Teeth of the
Dog is ranked in 17th place. Playa Dorada in the Playa Dorada hotel complex of
Puerto Plata is included for the first time in 53rd place. Golf Digest also
features five courses amongst the best courses in the DR in its listing on 184
countries. These are Casa de Campo’s Teeth of the Dog and the new Dye Fore in La
Romana on the Southeast Coast, Playa Dorada and Playa Grande on the North Coast
and Punta Cana Resort & Club along the East Coast.
http://www.golfdigest.com/courses/world/ |
USA 3000 Punta Cana airplane
USA 3000, the charter airline that transported 62% of all charter passengers
arriving to Punta Cana International Airport, has named one of its airplanes the
Punta Cana in honor of the popular destination. In April, the Ministry of
Tourism recognized the airline with an award during the National Tourism Awards
ceremony. Last year the airline made 1,350 flights to the country, of which
1,150 landed in Punta Cana. In 2003, it flew 1,150 flights, and 1,100 of these
to Punta Cana. At present USA 3000 operates 23 flights a week to the country, of
which 22 land in Punta Cana and one in La Romana. USA 3000 is the airline
division of Apple Vacations, one of the largest tour operators in the US. |
The beautiful Zoe Saldaña
26-year old Zoe Saldaña was chosen among the 50 most beautiful Latin
American women by People en Español magazine. Saldaña was born in New Jersey to
Dominican parents. At 10, shortly after her father had died in a traffic
accident, she moved to the DR until she was 17. In Santo Domingo she got her
first training in dance at the Ritmos (Ecos) dance school, where she studied
with Dilia Mieses.
She returned to New York where she took theater training that lead to her
present successful career.
Zoe Saldaña first gained the attention of Hollywood when staring as an aspiring
ballerina in Center Stage, followed by Get Over it, Cross Roads, Drum Line, The
Terminal. Her recent film Quess Who is showing in Santo Domingo. In the film she
costars as Bernie Mac’s daughter and Aston Kutcher’s fiancée in the comedy
turnabout on the 1967 interracial drama “Quess Who’s Coming to Dinner” with
Sidney Poitier, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn that back then won two
Oscars. Her TV work includes guest-starring spots on the WB’s Keeping it Real
and NBC’s Emmy-winning drama, Law and Order. She has under production Lucy, Ways
of the Flesh, La Maldicion del Padre Cardona (filmed in the DR), all for release
in 2005.
In an interview with the Boston Globe, she recently explained that her physical
attributes enable her to realistically play someone Arab, Indian, Filipino,
black or Latina.
http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/
http://www.zoe-saldana.com/
http://www.peopleenespanol.com/ |
Mariasela nightly on TV in Spain
The Dominican Republic’s Miss World 1982, Mariasela Alvarez will return to TV.
After winning awards in the DR for her long-running TV variety show, she
relocated to Madrid with her Spanish husband, well known hotelier Alberto Del
Pino.
She announced to the Dominican media last week that as of October she will be
back with a 10:30 pm one hour show, “Esta noche, Mariasela,” producing for
Popular TV, a UHF channel property of COPE, the second largest radio broadcast
station in Spain. “When I left Santo Domingo I said that I would return to work
in a year, and it looks like it will be that way after all, because the doors
have been opened for me to enter a channel that transmits programs along the
lines that I like, with messages of interest to the entire family and good
products,” she said. She said she is looking forward to a career with Spanish
TV. |
Casa Colonial, the find of 2005
Conde Nast, the leading US travel publishing company, annually checks out a
selection of new hotels and prepares its annual hot list. To prepare the list
their reporters visit the pre-selected hotels “incognito, accepting no freebies
and showing no favor”. They score the hotel on its look, location and service.
This year the magazine’s reporters checked out a record 116 properties—spanning
38 countries on six continents— that they feel reflect “the global triumph of
thrilling authenticity over the dulling, dutiful comforts of the cookie cutter.”
This year, Playa Dorada’s brand new Casa Colonial was included in the five
Caribbean properties. For the complete list, see
http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/
For more on the hotel, see
http://dr1.com/directories/hotels/ |
Ban on motorized transit on beaches
The Ministry of Tourism issued Resolution No. 68/2005 that specifically bans
the operation of “four wheels (quads), jeeps safaris, golf cars, among others”
in the area of 60 meters of the maritime stretch before the hotels and the
beach.
Arturo Villanueva, executive vice president of the National Hotel & Restaurant
Association (Asonahores) saluted the decision as a positive step to guarantee
the physical safety of those who flock to the beaches for rest and relaxation.
He suggested that horseback riding also be banned from the beach areas. |
|
