Leading travel agency trade website Travel Central has picked Samana, together with Culebra in Puerto Rico and Tulum in Mexico as three emerging Caribbean destinations to watch. It reports that JetBlue is expected to operate the first direct flights from JFK in New York by the end of the year. Meanwhile, a new toll road puts Samana’s Las Terrenas hotels about an hour’s drive from the Puerto Plata International Airport. Another toll road puts them two hours from Las Americas International in Santo Domingo.
Travel Central comments that Samana is still perhaps a few years away from being popular in the US, but that it is slowly adding hotels that are likely to attract American families and couples. It mentions Balcones del Atlantico, a Rockresort; the Viva Residence Bahia Estela and Viva Residence Las Terrenas; and the El Portillo Beach Club & Spa, under the Bahia Principe Spanish hotel group.
www.travelagentcentral.com/caribbean/emerging-destinations-caribbean-31131