Travel – Page 345

Boca Chica’s famous beach will host this year’s tour stop of Beach Volleyball “Sand and Sun 2009″from 6 to 8 November. Two-person teams, male and female, from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia (which has no beaches), Haiti, United States, Puerto Rico, Italy, Switzerland (which also does not have any beaches) and the Dominican Republic will compete for …

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During the 2009 Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) Small Hotels Retreat, CHTA president Enrique De Marchena Kaluche is optimistic that 2010 will be a good year for small hotels in the Caribbean. “The good news is that the pent-up demand for warm weather vacations is at its highest point in well over a decade,” …

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Transaero Airlines is increasing its weekly flights from St Petersburg and Moscow to the DR from two to five flights a week, beginning this 1 October 2009. Deputy Minister of Tourism Magaly Toribio said the increase in flights could mean 20% more Russian tourists. At least 50,000 Russian tourists are expected to visit in 2009, …

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CNN reporter Matt Tettelbach recently visited Punta Cana and acknowledged the attractions of beach resort relaxation. However, he also encourages tourists to take the US$9 4-hour Expreso Bavaro bus into Santo Domingo. “If you never leave the high walls of your tourist compound, you’re missing out on a gem of a capital city,” he writes. …

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During the DR’s participation at the French Travel Market in Paris (IFTM/Top Resa 2009) last week, Tourism Minister Francisco Javier Garcia announced that demand for Dominican vacations is up in France and that tour operators and travel agents have motivated airlines to increase weekly direct flights to the DR from 20 to 26 for this …

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“We are talking about a boom in cruise ship visits,” said Tourism Minister Francisco Javier Garcia, speaking at the IFTM/Top Resa 2009 event in Paris. He said numbers show that cruise ship arrivals are up 24%, despite the general lull in travel. He said that cruise ship arrivals to the DR have been increasing in …

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Ivonne Cocco Jimenez, previously on the staff of the Tourism Promotion Offices in Germany and Belgium will be in charge of opening the new Ministry of Tourism information office in Stockholm. The office will support promotion initiatives in the emerging Scandinavian market, covering Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The DR seeks to stimulate increased …

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The royal family will walk the corridors of the Alcazar once again after more than 400 years. Visitors will find individual actors in full costume playing the roles of First Viceroy of the Americas, Don Diego Colon, his wife Maria de Toledo, their seven children and members of the court on weekdays and on Saturday …

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Diario Libre reporter Vivian Jimenez won the grand prize in the annual travel writing awards organized by Occidental Hotels and the Dominican Travel Writing Association (Adompretur). To celebrate the winners, a dinner was held at the Hotel Embajador, attended by Dominican composer/singer Juan Luis Guerra, who also served as sponsor of the event. Other winners …

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The Michael Jackson tribute show is returning to Teatro La Fiesta at the Jaragua Hotel, Friday, 25 September at 8:30pm, after its initial success. The show is being praised for the local talent and special effects in their versions of “Black or White”, “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough”, “Human Nature”, “Smooth Criminal”, “You Are …

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