Dominican Tourism Reaches "Greatest Moment"

AlterEgo

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Dominican Tourism Reaches its 'Greatest Moment,' Says Minister

The Caribbean?s number one destination is hotter than ever. Visitor arrivals in the Dominican Republic grew 15 percent in October and will increase by 10 percent by the end of 2015, said Francisco Javier Garcia, the country?s tourism minister. Garcia said Dominican tourism is at ?the greatest moment in (its) history.?

Speaking at the opening of a tourism conference focused on the country?s coastal and marine environments, Garcia said Dominican Republic arrivals also increased 17 percent in September. To date the country has hosted 4,592,854 arrivals, an 8.9 percent increase over 2014 according to data from the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic, which tracks visitor arrivals data.

The Dominican Republic hosted 2,378,348 arrivals between January and May, a 6.8 percent increase over 2014, according to Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) data.

Garcia predicts the country will achieve a 10 percent arrivals increase by year?s end, a development which would extend the destination?s already dominant position among Caribbean nations. Last year the Dominican Republic hosted 5.14 million overnight arrivals, a 9.6 percent increase over 2013 according to CTO. The next-closest CTO-tracked countries, Cuba and Jamaica, hosted 3.0 million and 2.0 million visitors respectively.

The soaring arrivals follow numerous government and private initiatives to expand tourism across the country, beyond the booming Punta Cana all-inclusive resort district. A variety of projects are underway in the capital city of Santo Domingo as well as in the Puerto Plata region on the country?s northern coast.

In September, the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) issued a management plan to guide preservation and sustainable development initiatives in the ?Zona Colonial? district of the Dominican Republic?s historic capital city of Santo Domingo.

The Zona Colonial, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was the first permanent establishment for 15th century European explorers in the Americas, and the site of the first cathedral, hospital, customs house and university in the Americas.

The Dominican government and tourism ministry have directed an ongoing restoration of historic Zona Colonial streets and buildings. The UNESCO plan seeks to engage public and private stakeholders in additional strategies to preserve the historic district while coordinating management of growing tourist visits.

In Puerto Plata, cruise ship operator Carnival Corporation recently opened an $85 million, purpose-built cruise ship facility. A popular destination in an earlier era of Dominican tourism, Puerto Plata is another historic city with attractions that include an amber museum and the Caribbean?s only aerial tramway, which takes visitors to the summit of 2,601-foot high Pico Isabel de Torres. A seaside amphitheater has been built adjacent to Fortaleza San Felipe, a 15th century fortress.

Puerto Plata?s historic center is also undergoing a major renovation. The surrounding region features new bars, restaurants and cultural venues such as the Camilo Brugal Art Gallery.

In Samana, another northeastern tourist region, hoteliers have launched 500 new rooms this year. Other properties scheduled for launch in 2015 include an all-inclusive, adults-only Viva Wyndham resort and the Bahia Principe Samana Hotel, a luxury property from the Bahia Principe chain.

http://www.travelpulse.com/news/des...eaches-its-greatest-moment-says-minister.html
 

chic

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Nov 20, 2013
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wait wait wait when cuba is really open but tourism is a growing bis...
 

melphis

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Apr 18, 2013
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Cuba isn't really a threat. For argument sake lets say they have 50,000 hotel rooms. They run close to 95% occupancy in high season. Even when Americans decide to go there's no place to stay. All that will happen is there will be a shift in who goes where plus cuban prices will go up.
As far as buying property there....The government took all foreign owned property once, what's to stop them from doing it again.
I think the Dominican is safe for now. As Kipling said we will all be dead before much change happens.
 

LTSteve

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Jul 9, 2010
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Dominican Tourism Reaches its 'Greatest Moment,' Says Minister

The Caribbean’s number one destination is hotter than ever. Visitor arrivals in the Dominican Republic grew 15 percent in October and will increase by 10 percent by the end of 2015, said Francisco Javier Garcia, the country’s tourism minister. Garcia said Dominican tourism is at “the greatest moment in (its) history.”

Speaking at the opening of a tourism conference focused on the country’s coastal and marine environments, Garcia said Dominican Republic arrivals also increased 17 percent in September. To date the country has hosted 4,592,854 arrivals, an 8.9 percent increase over 2014 according to data from the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic, which tracks visitor arrivals data.

The Dominican Republic hosted 2,378,348 arrivals between January and May, a 6.8 percent increase over 2014, according to Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) data.

Garcia predicts the country will achieve a 10 percent arrivals increase by year’s end, a development which would extend the destination’s already dominant position among Caribbean nations. Last year the Dominican Republic hosted 5.14 million overnight arrivals, a 9.6 percent increase over 2013 according to CTO. The next-closest CTO-tracked countries, Cuba and Jamaica, hosted 3.0 million and 2.0 million visitors respectively.

The soaring arrivals follow numerous government and private initiatives to expand tourism across the country, beyond the booming Punta Cana all-inclusive resort district. A variety of projects are underway in the capital city of Santo Domingo as well as in the Puerto Plata region on the country’s northern coast.

In September, the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) issued a management plan to guide preservation and sustainable development initiatives in the “Zona Colonial” district of the Dominican Republic’s historic capital city of Santo Domingo.

The Zona Colonial, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was the first permanent establishment for 15th century European explorers in the Americas, and the site of the first cathedral, hospital, customs house and university in the Americas.

The Dominican government and tourism ministry have directed an ongoing restoration of historic Zona Colonial streets and buildings. The UNESCO plan seeks to engage public and private stakeholders in additional strategies to preserve the historic district while coordinating management of growing tourist visits.

In Puerto Plata, cruise ship operator Carnival Corporation recently opened an $85 million, purpose-built cruise ship facility. A popular destination in an earlier era of Dominican tourism, Puerto Plata is another historic city with attractions that include an amber museum and the Caribbean’s only aerial tramway, which takes visitors to the summit of 2,601-foot high Pico Isabel de Torres. A seaside amphitheater has been built adjacent to Fortaleza San Felipe, a 15th century fortress.

Puerto Plata’s historic center is also undergoing a major renovation. The surrounding region features new bars, restaurants and cultural venues such as the Camilo Brugal Art Gallery.

In Samana, another northeastern tourist region, hoteliers have launched 500 new rooms this year. Other properties scheduled for launch in 2015 include an all-inclusive, adults-only Viva Wyndham resort and the Bahia Principe Samana Hotel, a luxury property from the Bahia Principe chain.

http://www.travelpulse.com/news/des...eaches-its-greatest-moment-says-minister.html

One of the things the DR does well is tourism. They been at it for 30 years and have developed the infrustructure to support tourists and locals alike. Cuba will be competition but it will take a long time for them to catch the DR. The DR offers a wide range of accomodations to satisfy all comers. Taxes on hotels pay a lot of bills in the DR
 

the gorgon

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we will all be dead by then

maybe you will be, but it will happen far sooner than you think. let us make some things very clear. there is ONE reason why the DR gets the number of tourists that it does, and that factor is the hotel room price. the tour operators who buy the hotel space can get it cheaper than they can get them in another island. the DR has nothing that other islands do not have. it does not have the best beaches, the best food, the best accommodations, and the best service. everything in the AI tourist industry is homogenized, and you cannot tell one island from the other. so, if Cuba can sell cheaper than the DR, the planes will be sent there, plain and simple.

get some knowledge, folks. people in Minsk do not go to travel agents and tell them that they want to go to the Dominican Republic. most of them have never heard of the place. they tell the travel agents that they want to go on vacation, and the agents send them to the DR bacause it is cheap.
 

dv8

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i think DR will reach this and more. traditionally a tropical winter holiday for europeans was egypt, tunisia or turkey. these destinations are losing ground because of isis and terrorism. where else can europeans go now if they want beach holidays in january? the caribbean. asia is further away and africa is not very safe. if DR can stay competitive i see no reason why they would not receive a lot more tourists.
 

bob saunders

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I was at the Iberostar Punta Cana on the weekend and it, along with it's other two properties were pretty full, with many Colombians and Europeans. Next door, the much more expensive Hard Rock seemed pretty full. I paid 17,000 pesos for 4 adults for one night. There were several offering prices as low as 14,000. Price is only part of the reason people go to the DR. Many are repeat visitors because they actually like the place.
 

the gorgon

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i think DR will reach this and more. traditionally a tropical winter holiday for europeans was egypt, tunisia or turkey. these destinations are losing ground because of isis and terrorism. where else can europeans go now if they want beach holidays in january? the caribbean. asia is further away and africa is not very safe. if DR can stay competitive i see no reason why they would not receive a lot more tourists.

i agree with you that with the current political climate in Europe, places like the South of France and Spain will see a decline in tourists, along with a concomitant increase of tourists in the caribbeanregion. however, my point is that Cuba is not far away from being a strong competitor, because it has one major thing going for it...it is a brand. everyone knows the history and current reality of Cuba, and Americans, in particular will want to go there. the DR gets a lot of visitors because of the relatively lower prices. there are only two brand countries in the caribbean. Cuba, and Jamaica. everyone else gets tourists because tour operators send them there.
 
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I was at the Iberostar Punta Cana on the weekend and it, along with it's other two properties were pretty full, with many Colombians and Europeans. Next door, the much more expensive Hard Rock seemed pretty full. I paid 17,000 pesos for 4 adults for one night. There were several offering prices as low as 14,000. Price is only part of the reason people go to the DR. Many are repeat visitors because they actually like the place.

188 USD per double room per night is way too high for this cold season.
I paid 150 USD per night at Memories 2 adults 2 children (it was actually 2.5 adult rate as one child free and one at 50% the adult rate, so that would make it US$120 per double room per night) in the beginning of September ... when it was still sufficiently warm, no clouds, no rain. A 3-night (4 day) package at cool US$450. We arrived at 9 am on Thursday morning and left around 6.00 pm on Sunday, after the pools and slides closed, and we took a brief bite at a burger place just before hitting the road.

Don't buy locally, buy with foreign tour operators. You are Canadian, you can buy well via Sunwing. I buy in Europe.
 

AlterEgo

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Many are repeat visitors because they actually like the place.

I hear people raving about DR [which to them is Punta Cana] all the time. Last week my daughter and I were at a fundraiser and a woman she knew was seated at our table. She mentioned we'd be leaving soon for our home in DR and it set her off in a frenzy about how much she and her husband love DR [PC], that it was the best vacation they ever had, that they can't wait to go back, yada yada yada. Two days later I picked up an order for some things we're bringing to DR [another friend of daughter is a wholesaler], and she went on and on about her brother and his wife just returning from DR [PC] and how they loved it. First woman was probably about 50-55, brother of friend is 33-34. Both might have gone there to begin with because the price was right, but they had such a good time that they're going back.

Cheap only goes so far, if they don't enjoy themselves it's not good for tourism. DR is obviously doing something right.
 

the gorgon

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I hear people raving about DR [which to them is Punta Cana] all the time. Last week my daughter and I were at a fundraiser and a woman she knew was seated at our table. She mentioned we'd be leaving soon for our home in DR and it set her off in a frenzy about how much she and her husband love DR [PC], that it was the best vacation they ever had, that they can't wait to go back, yada yada yada. Two days later I picked up an order for some things we're bringing to DR [another friend of daughter is a wholesaler], and she went on and on about her brother and his wife just returning from DR [PC] and how they loved it. First woman was probably about 50-55, brother of friend is 33-34. Both might have gone there to begin with because the price was right, but they had such a good time that they're going back.

Cheap only goes so far, if they don't enjoy themselves it's not good for tourism. DR is obviously doing something right.

i have no argument with you about having met people who rave about their vacation in the DR. that is to be expected. however, there are tourists who visit other destinations, who are equally as rhapsodic when they describe their vacation in Grand Turk and the Caymans. just as there will be those who thought the place sucks. the fact is that the return rate of which you speak is lower in the DR than most of the other territories. that was documented in research papers a long while ago, that it was low by caribbean standards, and Haydee Rainieri stated, less than 5 years ago, that one of the drawbacks to tourism here is the low return rate. the rate in Barbados is somewhere like 52%, while in a place like Samana it is 18%.
 

ccarabella

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I can't tell you how many people ask me about going to Punta Cana or they have a story
of their visit there. I've heard good and bad. It does seem like everyone nowadays wants to check it out.
I always recommend the same resort because that's the only one I've been to (a Barcel? brand).
We enjoyed ourselves and were pleased with the accommodations.
I have been to resorts in the Pacific, in Mexico, Tortola, Jamaica, St Lucia and several other islands
and countries and the truth is they are all the same inside the resort walls.
 

the gorgon

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I can't tell you how many people ask me about going to Punta Cana or they have a story
of their visit there. I've heard good and bad. It does seem like everyone nowadays wants to check it out.
I always recommend the same resort because that's the only one I've been to (a Barcel? brand).
We enjoyed ourselves and were pleased with the accommodations.
I have been to resorts in the Pacific, in Mexico, Tortola, Jamaica, St Lucia and several other islands
and countries and the truth is they are all the same inside the resort walls.

thank you, ccarabella! you have just confirmed what i have always posted. the product is homogenous, and no island or other territory has anything that no other one has. we are talking about countries which basically operate on the same business model...all inclusive. Jamaica invented the model, and everyone now does it the same way. there are no major differences in how each country does it. there are evolutions, and each is copied by the others. the first Adults Only operation in the region was started by the Hedonism group, and now everyone has one. the first family model was started by Frank Rance at FDR in Discovery Bay. now, every island has one. the first couples only was started by the Issa Brothers, now everyone has one. there is nothing unique about any island which sets it apart from the rest.

it is all about PRICE!!!.
 

drSix

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We're leaving, moving back to the US after three years of being here, but are considering moving back on day. If we do move back, it'll be Punta Cana, or some place within a couple hours of Santo Domingo. The #1 reason, is the flights. PUJ and SDQ have so many more options for family visits, and return trips and are half the price.
 

dv8

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Cheap only goes so far, if they don't enjoy themselves it's not good for tourism. DR is obviously doing something right.

i doubt it. as others mentioned, all inclusive is a generic product, it's the same everywhere. take these folks out to see so called "real DR" and they will be eating their hats.

i had a friend visit me few years ago. she's been to cuba, jamaica and mexico before, each time in AI. sang praises of each destination. she hated DR thou. the dirt, the mess, the homeless dogs, the traffic, all the jazz.

it's easy to satisfy the palate of a peasant traveler. all he wants is sun, beach, booze and food. AI offers all that.
 

the gorgon

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i doubt it. as others mentioned, all inclusive is a generic product, it's the same everywhere. take these folks out to see so called "real DR" and they will be eating their hats.

i had a friend visit me few years ago. she's been to cuba, jamaica and mexico before, each time in AI. sang praises of each destination. she hated DR thou. the dirt, the mess, the homeless dogs, the traffic, all the jazz.

it's easy to satisfy the palate of a peasant traveler. all he wants is sun, beach, booze and food. AI offers all that.

and, dv8, the peasant wants all that at the lowest price. we are not talking of gourmands and bon vivant types. we are talking about people who work at the DMV who save up for five years for the pleasure of being able to spend the entire vacation in an air conditioned room. they will rave over anything, as long as they can eat and drink till they puke for a week.
 

keepcoming

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May 25, 2011
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I know several people that make yearly, twice yearly visits to Punta Cana. Pricewise for a week of beach and sun, everything included for many that is exactly what they are looking for. No worries about traveling about trying to find somewhere to eat, drink, etc...it is all right there. For many that aspect of the AI sells itself basically wherever. Many of those that I have spoke with think the beaches / prices are better in Punta Cana. AA will soon (or maybe it has already begun) flights from DFW to Punta Cana which makes it easier for those coming from the Western US.

You also have the type of tourist that has done the AI thing for a bit and now wants to venture out and see the country. Try different locales / areas in the DR. That is a definite boast to the tourist industry. These types of tourists are out there but the promoting of these other areas lacks a bit. And some of that has to do with flight access.
 

the gorgon

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Sep 16, 2010
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I know several people that make yearly, twice yearly visits to Punta Cana. Pricewise for a week of beach and sun, everything included for many that is exactly what they are looking for. No worries about traveling about trying to find somewhere to eat, drink, etc...it is all right there. For many that aspect of the AI sells itself basically wherever. Many of those that I have spoke with think the beaches / prices are better in Punta Cana. AA will soon (or maybe it has already begun) flights from DFW to Punta Cana which makes it easier for those coming from the Western US.

You also have the type of tourist that has done the AI thing for a bit and now wants to venture out and see the country. Try different locales / areas in the DR. That is a definite boast to the tourist industry. These types of tourists are out there but the promoting of these other areas lacks a bit. And some of that has to do with flight access.

there are many beaches in the caribbean that blow Punta Cana away. however, PC evens out that advantage with the prices.