DR1 Travel News - 29 May 2018

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Skylift is new tourist attraction in Santo Domingo
Long weekend starts Thursday, 31 May
Tourist cards now bundled into airline ticket
Latin Music Tour Festival in Punta Cana



Skylift is new tourist attraction in Santo Domingo
Have spare time on Sunday? Consider taking a tour of the city from abroad, on board the Santo Domingo Skylift, a project implemented by the URBE office of the Medina administration. URBE has included what they call a giant urban mural, with the colorful painting of many of the roof tops along the 5 km trek. The new sky lift connects east and west Santo Domingo over the Ozama River. The sky lift has capacity to transport 3,000 persons per hour. The Santo Domingo Skylift primarily connects the city center with the northeastern populated area of Greater Santo Domingo. Users of the skylift can transfer to the two lines of the Santo Domingo Metro for the same fare.

The skylift has stations at Charles de Gaulle, Sabana Perdida and Los Tres Brazos in eastern Santo Domingo and in Gualey, on the western bank of the Ozama. The entire skylift route from eastern Santo Domingo to western Santo Domingo on the skylift takes 15-20 minutes.

The system cost US$8.4 million per kilometer and each cabin has capacity for 10 persons. There is free wifi service in the four stations. The skylift is estimated to transport 16,553 persons per day in its first year.

A first month of free service at peak hours has been announced. The peak hours are 6-9am and 5 to 8pm. Afterwards, the cable car will cost RD$20 per journey including the rides on the Santo Domingo metro for no additional charge.

https://www.facebook.com/DiarioLibre/videos/10156106871881900/


Long weekend starts Thursday, 31 May
The religious holiday, Corpus Christi is happening this Thursday, 31 May 2018, creating a long weekend for those who can take off Friday, 1 June through Monday, 4 June. Expect a larger number of locals at beach resorts and traffic leaving the cities to pick up on Thursday as thousands head for internal cities, mountain and beach vacation spots.


Tourist cards now bundled into airline ticket
Tourists can practically breeze through the eight international airports in the Dominican Republic now that the US$10 tourist entry fees are being bundled into the airline ticketing price sold online and abroad. The new arrangement went into effect on 25 April 2018.

The Dominican Tax Authorities (DGII) says the new system eliminates the queues that tourists had to make upon arriving to the country, adding to their enjoying vacation time in the country. The new system does not apply to cruise port arrivals. The tourist card fee will not be applied to tickets sold in the Dominican Republic.

Most visitors arriving by air to the Dominican Republic, including those from the US, Canada, European and Latin American countries only need a valid passport and the bundled tourist card to enter the country.

The new process eliminates the previous system where visitors were required to fill out a form and purchase the tourist card upon arrival in Dominican Republic. For now, the prepaid tourist card is only available with the purchase of airline ticket and excludes airline tickets with points of sale within Dominican Republic. Tourists entering via cruise port will continue to follow the existing entry requirements.

Dominican nationals will need to apply online for a reimbursement for the tourist fees.

For more information and details on the new DGII entry requirements including consulate locations, how to receive a refund for a previously issued tourist card and more, please visit (Spanish only) http://www.dgii.gov.do


Latin Music Tour Festival in Punta Cana
In its 17th year, the Latin Music Tour Festival is taking place on 17-19 August 2018 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Punta Cana. The show is so popular that the organizers have expanded the venue at the golf course of the hotel and now can accommodate up to 12,000 fans.
On the program this 2018 are:
Merengue singer Sergio Vargas and urban singer Lírico en la Casa on Friday, 17 August at the Filmore Hall of the hotel.
Puerto Rican salsa singer Victor Manuelle, merengue singer Toño Rosario and bachata singer Anthony Santos, and urban artist Don Miguelo on Saturday, 18 August.