DATE (Dominican Annual Travel Exchange), the leading travel booking event for the Dominican Republic, will be held this coming 5-7 April, this time in Punta Cana on the eastern coast. The brand new convention area at the Paradisus Palma Real, one of the new “six-star” hotels opening in the area, is home base for the event that brings together selling hoteliers and buying tour operators. See http://dr1.com/directories/hotels/paradisus_palma_real.shtml
The international press is also coming for the event that is held each year to highlight what’s new in the Dominican tourism industry. Last year, the event was held in Santo Domingo.
Arturo Villanueva, executive vice president of the National Hotel & Restaurant Association (Asonahores), organizers of the event, said that DATE had contributed to the marked increase in US travelers. Last year alone, over one million US travelers visited the DR, up from less than 300,000 when the event was created. DATE is in its seventh year. The first DATE was held in 1999 when Rafael Blanco Canto was president of Asonahores. International arrivals in general have grown 256% to the Dominican Republic since 1999, according to Asonahores.
In the past, Dominican hoteliers depended on booking travel in world travel fairs. Villanueva says that the development and success of DATE is an indication that tour operators recognize the Dominican tourism market as mature and consolidated. The event brings tour operators to the DR to meet with leading hoteliers and book travel.