2006 Travel News Archive – Page 19

Playa Grande development

News is trickling in about the new owners of the Playa Grande golf course and development. The New York-based group promises to bring together “an exciting community of creative people, from the arts, music, business and politics.” Founding residents already include Newsweek editor Fareed Zakaria, previous Microsoft CFO and Expedia chairman Greg Maffei, fashion designer …

SeaTree opening in May

Originally from New York and New Jersey but “retired” in Cabrera, Lynn Kramer and Sheila Jacobs have combined their knowledge and talents in luxury property development to create Sea Tree Estates in Abreu, Cabrera, just west of Playa Grande. In May the first owners will receive the keys to the first Sea Tree villa. “Our …

More people are booking via Internet

YPB&R marketing company reminds us that 2006 marks the 10th anniversary of the Internet as a consumer medium. This also marked a new era for the travel industry. YPB&R reports that an estimated 86% of active business travelers and 73% of active leisure travelers have Internet access at home, and most now go online through …

Carnival in Santo Domingo

In Santo Domingo, the focal point of the event is an eclectic Carnival parade down the Malecon featuring the Carnival King who is elected yearly. In the capital city, as in many other urban centers, social clubs hold dances that are often extravaganzas for showing off their costumes. During such events, highly organized dance groups, …

Dominicans in the billboards

Dominican artists have done well, receiving 16 nominations for the 2006 Latin Music Billboard awards. The Billboard Latin Music Awards honor the most popular albums, songs and performers in Latin music, as determined by the actual sales and radio airplay data that informs Billboard?s weekly charts during a one-year period ending with the 4 February …

Cruiseships in Samana

Bahia Cruise Service, a new company that seeks to attract cruise lines to the DR, has announced the successful start of arrivals of Mediterranean Shipping Company?s Opera to Cayo Levantado on Thursdays. The company?s Lirica ship will make occasional visits to the Samana port area. Bahia Cruise Service expects to bring 33 cruise ship visits …

DR makes No. 1 in Cigar Aficionado list

Cigars from the Dominican Republic have made eight of the top 25 places in the Cigar Aficionado magazine?s February Top 25 cigar list. The rankings included No. 1 that this year went to Santiago-produced Fuente Opus X Double Corona. To compile the selection, the editors of the magazine spent days reviewing hundreds of cigars produced …

Tourists from Italy

Italian arrivals to the Dominican Republic in 2005 were 133,954 with an 8% increase over the total for 2004, but still below the peak of 135,539 arrivals during 1999, 135,339 in 2000 and 135,293 in 2003. Arrivals to La Romana, where Italian-owned resorts such as Viva Wyndham Resorts and Gran Dominicus are located, made for …

Caribbean Sun to fly to DR

Caribbean Sun airlines, owned by Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford, has applied for permission to initiate services from San Juan’s Luis Munoz Marin Airport to Las Americas International Airport in Santo Domingo. The new route would provide some competition to the American Eagle and American Airlines dominated 40-minute trek over the Mona Channel. Up till …

DATE at the new Paradisus Palma Real

The Dominican Annual Tourism Exchange will take place this year at the new Paradisus Palma Real in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic from 5 to 7 April. DATE brings together international wholesalers, tour operators, incentive groups, airlines and charter operators, the buyers that meet and conduct business with the country’s leading tourism suppliers. It is also …

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