With the prediction that “the country is increasingly becoming the five-star playground of the Caribbean,” Seth Kugel writes about current options for vacations in the DR in a feature in the New York Times Sunday, 29 October edition, starting from his stay at the Tortuga Bay boutique hotel in Punta Cana.
The feature is titled: “The Dominican Republic Offers a New Place in the Sun.” In his article, he acknowledges that all-inclusive hotel “bargains are still there”, but goes on to point out that: “As the winter season approaches, the Dominican Republic has all but been anointed with ‘it-destination’ status by celebrities, travel magazines and tour operators.” His forecast is that the onset of what he calls paparazzi-drawing celebrities is “only the beginning”, with more high-end hotels planned for opening in the next few years. He mentions the Westin Roco Ki Beach and Golf Resort scheduled for winter 2007, the Sanctuary Cap Cana scheduled for spring 2007, and several Gran Bahia Principe chain luxury hotels in Samana.
Addressing the question of how the country has made the switch from mass market to mixed market, he attributes this success to the quality of beaches, golf, many international flights, the escape-mode hotels provide, baseball, visiting celebrities starting with the Clintons, and a Miss Universe in 2003, tourism advertising campaign, lack of terrorism and anti-Americanism, and new investments in infrastructure.
“It’s estimated that four million people will visit the country this year,” he writes. He also mentions that this doubles the 1.9 million visitors who came in 1996 and points out that Americans are quickly taking over, where Canadians and Europeans previously dominated.
He points out that one of the country’s greatest challenges is to push service levels so that they are on a par with the accommodations in order to successfully complete the crossover to elite tourism.
http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/10/29/travel/29dominican.html?pagewanted=1…