2007 Travel News Archive – Page 5

The municipality of Higuey will be celebrating its 500th anniversary soon. A commemorative date of 7 December 2007 has been set, and the plan is to hold year-long celebrations into 2008. The Archbishop’s Office in Higuey is taking part in the coordination of the event, with the support of regional historians and business representatives.

Caribbean Travel & Life magazine dedicates the first headline of its November issue to point out value for money opportunities at Dominican beaches. Another front-page headline on Hot Places to Go Right Now features Sun Village Resort & Spa (Puerto Plata), Agua Resort & Spa (Punta Cana) as new places to go for pampering in …

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The Constitution Day holiday turns the first weekend in November into a long weekend for DR dwellers. Many hotels are offering sales to attract local crowds. The long weekend runs from Friday, 2 November through Monday, 5 November. Constitution Day falls on Tuesday, 6 November, but DR law specifies that it is to be celebrated …

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Maritime travel to the DR in 2005 was 289,805 (71,179 passengers to Santo Domingo, 216,290 to La Romana), up to 303, 489 (70,372 to Santo Domingo and 181,330 to La Romana) in 2006. In 2007, with the advances in improvements at the Port of Santo Domingo, the numbers are up. For the first half of …

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Royal Caribbean International has chosen the Santo Domingo port that is undergoing major improvements by Sans Souci Ports, S.A., which is currently executing a 40-year build-operate-transfer concession to expand and operate the Sans Souci and Don Diego cruise ship terminals in the capital city. So far, US$41 million have been invested, according to Luis Molina, …

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Royal Caribbean recently announced that its ship, Vision of the Seas, will homeport in Santo Domingo, in addition to sister ships Legend of the Seas that will also receive air arrivals to Santo Domingo. Other Royal Caribbean cruise ships that will be docking in 2007, 2008 and 2009 at Dominican ports are the Serenade of …

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The Toronto, Canada-based Globe and Mail publishing company’s Florida and Caribbean cruise will be docking in Samana next 25 January- 4 February 2008. Globe & Mail publisher, Phillip Crawley and Editor-in Chief Edward Greenspon, and other journalists will be on board and sharing with the 490 passengers on board the 220 cabin Regent luxury Seven …

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The Ocean Bavaro Spa and Beach Resort are being re-branded as a Barcelo Resort and renamed the Barcelo Dominican Beach Resort. The hotel is located in Bavaro between Carabela Beach Resort and Melia Caribe Tropical Resort in Punta Cana. The Playa Hotels & Resorts, the company formed in 2006 by Grupo Barcelo in Palma de …

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More tourists are learning about the Dominican Republic through the Internet, according to the most recently published Opinion, Attitude and Motivation Survey to Non-Resident Foreign Arrivals carried out by the Central Bank. In 2006, 9.9% of visiting tourists found out about the DR through the Internet, compared to 7.5% in 2005 and 4.9% in 2004. …

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The 2006 Central Bank motivation survey indicates that the beaches (33.5%) and climate (18.1%) were the main draws for visiting the DR in 2006. Non-resident foreign arrivals were polled upon departure for the survey. This compares to 36.7% and 18.6% that tourists pinpointed beaches and sun were the reasons they came in 2005. The exit …

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