DR1 Travel News - 8 May 2018

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Club Med to build first resort in Miches beach area
Promoting the attractions of Haiti in the DR
DR to sign aviation agreement with China
Time to attract Chinese tourists
Forbes highlights VIP guest lounge at Punta Cana International Airport




Club Med to build first resort in Miches beach area
President Danilo Medina was in Miches, El Seibo province for the official announcement by Club Med of the start of construction of the Club Med Miches (not the resort’s final name), an all-inclusive development. Located to the north of the Punta Cana Beach on the east coast, the Miches area has its own beaches that are around 100 kms from the Punta Cana International Airport, on a good road. Club Med made the announcement of the ground breaking on 4 May 2018. The new development is slated for a December 2019 inaugural.

The French corporation says the resort will be the corporation’s first five-trident (star) resort in the Americas and its largest Caribbean property in 25 years, as well as the first resort in the new branded Exclusive Collection. The resort will have areas for adults only and children’s clubs for all ages.

This would be the second Club Med property since 1978, when it was the first international hotel company to invest in the Punta Cana beach area. The first project is a 10 minute drive away from the Punta Cana International Airport.

Participating in the ground-breaking ceremony, Tourism Minister Francisco García highlighted: “Anywhere Club Med goes, they do well.” He announced works would begin shortly on the construction of the road that would give access to the Club Med installations.

Also speaking at the event was the Club Med CEO for the Americas, Xavier Mufraggi who highlighted the magic of the site, the people and the economic stability of the country.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-rel...lection-resort-in-the-americas-300642835.html


Promoting the attractions of Haiti in the DR
The Dominican-Haitian Chamber of Commerce (CCDH) and the Haitian Organization for Management of the Haiti North Destination (OGDNH) carried out a recent familiarization trip for tour operators and Dominican travel agencies. Haitian hoteliers welcomed 32 persons on the fam trip in Cap Haitien to foster the selling of the north coast of the Dominican Republic jointly with the attractions of the Haitian north coast.
Most of the travel agents were from Santiago, Moca, Mao and Montecristi, in addition to from capital city Santo Domingo. The travel experts visited La Citadelle and other key attractions in the area.

The visit had the backing of the Ministry of Foreign Relations of the Dominican Republic (Mirex) and the Embassy of Haiti in the Dominican Republic.

Participating also were Sucre Feliz, director of Haitian relations at Mirex, Myrthil Miousemine Celestin, business attaché of the Embassy of Haiti in the Dominican Republic, and Rosa María García, president of the CCDH. Fam trip coordinator was Aurora Rosario.

http://hoy.com.do/promueven-a-rd-y-haiti-como-multidestino-turistico/


DR to sign aviation agreement with China
The president of the Civil Aviation Board (JAC), Luis Ernesto Camilo announced that before the end of the year the Dominican Republic will have signed an aviation agreement with the People’s Republic of China. The agreement follows the opening of formal diplomatic relations between the two countries announced on 30 April 2018.

Camilo said that the number of Chinese travelers to the Dominican Republic had already increased 65% in 2017 compared to the previous year. From China, at present the best connections are through New York City, USA, Toronto, Canada or Sao Paulo in Brazil.

Camilo highlighted that World Tourism Organization statistics indicate that Chinese travelers are the big spenders. He said estimates are that Chinese travelers spent US$257 billion in their travels, compared to US$135 billion by the US travelers. He highlighted that 127 million Chinese traveled abroad in 2017.

The Dominican Republic has yet to complete the process to be recognized as an official destination for Chinese travelers by the PRC.

http://www.jac.gob.do/index.php/noticias/item/firma-de-acuerdo-de-servicios-aereos


Time to attract Chinese tourists
After the announcement of the signing of diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China, Tourism Minister Francisco Javier García met on Thursday, 3 May 2018, with the commercial representative of China Xinrong Fu García to speak of new challenges and opportunities ahead for both nations. García said that the new relations with the Asian giant "open a whole range of opportunities for Chinese investors to know the good levels of profitability that exist in the Dominican Republic."

He also considered that this decision of the Dominican Government is an important step to get more Chinese to come to the country to know the Dominican idiosyncrasy and culture, thus contributing to obtain the goal of 10 million tourists by 2022, since China is the source of the highest amount of tourists in the world.

He also announced that in the coming days he will hold a meeting with the Association of Hotels and Tourism of the Dominican Republic (Asonahores), to assess the impact that, from the tourist point of view, the new relations with China will have for the country.

The Minister of Tourism said that the President of the Republic, Danilo Medina, has been interested, since the beginning of his administration, in establishing diplomatic relations with China.

For its part, the Chinese trade representative Xinrong Fu said that work now starts on steps to materialize the contents of the agreement.

On Monday, 30 April 2018, the Dominican Republic and China announced the establishment of diplomatic relations. The surprise announcement meant the Dominican Republic severed diplomatic ties with the Republic of China (Taiwan) that had been maintained for more than 75 years.

http://mitur.gob.do/ministro-turism...tunidades-nuevas-relaciones-entre-china-y-rd/


Forbes highlights VIP guest lounge at Punta Cana International Airport
Forbes is among the international press to highlight the airport pool lounge opened in the VIP area at the Punta Cana International Airport. The new facility is a way of squeezing out the last minute of water and sun prior to departing Punta Cana sun and sand destination.

Larry Olmsted, a Forbes contributor, writes: “It will be hard to miss your flight when you can see your plane arriving from the swimming pool,” he writes. He observes that the Punta Cana airport lounge has outclassed other VIP waiting areas around the world.

“Recently there have been a slate of new lounge openings and one-upmanship in the airline industry, including the excellent and still growing American Express Centurion Lounge network (read more here) and the ongoing roll-out of the United Polaris Lounge product. But one Caribbean airport just upped that ante with its resort-style approach to putting fun back into air travel,” he writes referring to the VIP guest lounge at the Punta Cana International Airport.

“The airport was already one of the world’s fastest, most hassle free and user friendly foreign gateways for arrivals, but now it is equally impressive on your day of departure. The lounge’s flagship feature is an infinity edge swimming pool - outdoors - overlooking the tarmac, and it was designed by famed Dominican architect, Antonio Segundo Imbert.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/larryo...uxury-travelers-a-swimming-pool/#4ec904a65e70