Dominican Tourism

Frank and Haydee Rainieri, founders of Puntacana Resort & Club, will be honored during the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Investment Conference scheduled for 4-6 May 2010 in Puerto Rico. The Rainieris will receive the Bill Bissell Lifetime Achievement Award that honors individuals who have made a difference in the industry through their actions, contributions and great lifetime accomplishments in the Caribbean and beyond.

“Frank and Haydee’s impact on Caribbean tourism – as well as their work on sustainability issues, social reform and education – is well known and is deserving of the entire region’s respect,” said Enrique De Marchena Kaluche, President of CHTA. (more…)

Punta Cana.– JetBlue will begin offering daily nonstop flights, year round, between Punta Cana and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, making golf vacations that much more convenient.

On May 8, the company will begin offering nonstop, Saturday flights between Punta Cana and Boston’s Logan International Airport.

To celebrate the new routes, JetBlue is offering these flights at $99 each way if booked by February 1 for travel between May 8 and June 12.

Punta Cana.– Green Globe, the leading certification program for sustainability in travel and tourism, congratulates the Barceló Punta Cana Resort on achieving certification. Throughout the certification and auditing process, the Barceló Punta Cana Resort made significant investments to ensure that the resort’s infrastructure met the highest environmental standards.

A key focus for the certification was the upgrading of chiller systems and guest room air-conditioning as well as the installation of an ultraviolet purifier in the resort’s water treatment plant. In addition, the resort’s corporate social responsibility initiatives, which were introduced to assist the local community’s school and students, also played an important role.

The new program encourages guests to donate notebooks, pencils and textbooks for the local community. The resort organizes day trips for the local school students, where the educational materials are presented and the resort’s facilities are open for the students and their families to enjoy.

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Punta Cana is included in the Top 50 Most Searched for Destinations from US airports.
In the Caribbean and the Bahamas, the most searched for destinations are Cancun, Mexico (11th), Nassau, Bahamas (30th) San Juan, Puerto Rico (33rd) and Punta Cana (38th). Also listed for the Caribbean are Montego Bay, Jamaica (42nd) and Havana, Cuba (49th).
See http://www.skyscanner.com/news/articles/2010/01/…
The Top 50 listed for 2010 are:

1. London, UK
2. New York City
3. Las Vegas, NV
4. Paris, France
5. Dublin, Ireland
6. Los Angeles, CA
7. Orlando, FL
8. Rome, Italy
9. Madrid, Spain
10. Miami, FL
11. Cancun, Mexico
12. Frankfurt, Germany
13. Honolulu, HI
14. San Francisco, CA
15. Amsterdam, Netherlands
16. San Jose, CA
17. Barcelona, Spain
18. Manchester, UK
19. Sydney, Australia
20. Johannesburg, South Africa
21. Bangkok, Thailand
22. Fort Lauderdale, FL
23. Lima, Peru
24. Buenos Aires, Argentina
25. Chicago, IL (more…)

Tourism cluster practitioners and tourism professionals from all over the world will meet in Punta Cana this coming 7-10 April 2010 conference. The event is hosted by the National Competitiveness Council of the Dominican Republic.

The 1st global thematic conference on tourism clusters will be held under the general theme “World Class Sustainable Competitive Tourism Clusters.

” The conference will bring together cluster practitioners, researchers, international experts and tourism professionals from all over the world, to discuss the main issues and the latest trends on promoting competitiveness through local development and clusters in one of the most important global industries. (more…)

Spanish hotel chain NH has opened its second hotel in the Punta Cana area. The NH Royal Beach has 373 rooms and its royal suites are targeting affluent tourists. It is an adults-only hotel. The all-inclusive property seeks to attract weddings, honeymooners and family and friend reunions. Rooms operate under the Club Paradise, VIP luxury all-inclusive modality. The NH Royal Beach will open next door to the chain’s NH Real Arena, both centrally located in Bavaro. It is marketed under the NH Luxury Resorts brand for premium service at all-inclusive resorts.

the Minister of Tourism said Monday the Dominican destination has grown constantly during the last three months, compared with the same year ago period, which in his view shows the industry’s definitive recovery

Francisco Javier Garcia said November tourist arrivals climbed 6 percent more than the same month last year, with visits by nonresident foreigners to the country rising 4.49 percent, whereas those of nonresident Dominicans jumped 16.67 percent. (more…)