2013 Travel News Archive – Page 14

The Larimar Surfing Championship takes place at Playa Los Patos in Barahona with competitions on Friday, 31 May and Saturday, 1 June. Competitions start at 7am. The categories are surfing, bodyboard, SUP (tentative) and longboard. The event, organized by the Dominican Surfing Federation (Fedosurf) is included in the National Surfing Circuit 2013. Prize money is …

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AirTran, the wholly owned subsidiary of Southwest Airlines, operated its first direct flight from Midway Airport I Chicago to Punta Cana on Sunday, 19 May. The airline has four weekly frequencies, on Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Magaly Toribio, marketing advisor to the Ministry of Tourism, and Patricia Perez, director of the Dominican Tourism Office …

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Minister of Tourism Francisco Javier Garcia expects the Puerto Plata cruise ship terminal to be completed by December 2014. Work is already underway at the site located in Maimon. Carnival Corporation is building the terminal, a US$85 million investment. Other cruise lines will be able to dock their ships there. Minister Garcia says it will …

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One of the newest excursions in Punta Cana is the Monkeyland outing. Tourists choosing this Bavaro Runners excursion are taken to a close encounter with small squirrel monkeys on a farm in the Anamuya mountains. The monkeys are originally from Guyana and Suriname and now move freely among the trees in their new habitat. The …

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Brazilian ambassador in the DR Jose Macus Vinicius de Sousa has told Preferente magazine that in the past five years travel from Brazil to the Dominican Republic has increased more than tenfold, up from 7,000 to 80,000 visitors. He said the improving purchasing power of families in Brazil has made all the difference. He also …

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Speaking recently at DATE Punta Cana, deputy Tourism Minister Radhames Martinez gave a progress report on the physical and people-oriented renovations underway in the Colonial City of Santo Domingo as part of a US$30 million Inter-American Development Bank urban renewal program. He said that the project for the improvement of the Colonial City was part …

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Radhames Martinez has revealed that Santo Domingo has been declared the Ibero-American Capital of Carnival for 2014. “This new event will be an important addition to the promotion of the city of Santo Domingo as a touristic destination”, he stated at DATE Punta Cana. Cadiz held the title in 2012, Montevideo in 2013. www.facebook.com/capital.iberoamericanadelcarnaval

The new Starwood Hotels & Restaurants Worldwide hotel will reopen on Santo Domingo’s Malecon seafront boulevard. The company says it is recognizing that Santo Domingo is a leading corporate destination. A US$6 million renovation is underway at the former Melia Santo Domingo, the Malecon-fronting property. The premises will include the first Starbucks in the Dominican …

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The largest sightseeing company in the world, with one billion dollars in annual global sales, has set up its own offices and operation in the Dominican Republic. Speaking at DATE 2013 in Punta Cana, international sales director Dale Berridge announced that the company would be offering full tour operator services in the DR, including shuttles, …

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Tourists taking the Bavaro Runners safari excursions may not realize just how major an impact they are making on their host communities. The excursion company invites tourists to join the Giving Back to the Community program whereby they contribute to painting the countryside homes of the residents in rural communities visited. The upkeep is contributing …

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