Dominican Republic Tourism Board is welcoming to be partners on our TOUR EXPO Virtual Tourism Fair!
A Democratic nation with a population of over 10 million people, the Dominican Republic has a territory stretching 48,442 square kilometers (18,704 square miles). That’s just over twice the size of New Jersey, or nearly the size of Costa Rica. Its coveted shores face the Caribbean Sea in the south, and the Atlantic Ocean in the north. As of 2017, 6,187,542 overnight visitors and more than 1,100,000 cruise passengers make their way to the Dominican Republic every year.
Quisqueya, as Dominicans affectionately call their home–meaning “mother of all lands”– is a country of superlatives. This was the first permanent Spanish settlement in the Americas or the “New World,” with the arrival of Christopher Columbus on his first voyage in 1492. Aside from choosing the DR as his sole residence in the region–a land blessed with fertile soil and gold deposits–Columbus and the Spanish Crown used the country as a launching pad for conquests across the Caribbean and United States. Today, the first city of the Americas, Santo Domingo, is the capital of the DR, and continues to thrive while preserving its history and original Spanish architecture.
Aside from historic firsts, the Dominican Republic ranks among the most diverse Caribbean countries in geography, nature, and people. Its landscape ranges from the highest peak in the region, Pico Duarte, to the lowest body of water, Lago Enriquillo. A whopping 6,000 species of flora and 7,000 species of fauna include cacti flowers, endemic hawks, and humpback whales. The country’s cultural make up–Taino, European, and African–includes a diverse population welcomed in the DR since the 19th century, from Jewish and Japanese communities to UNESCO-proclaimed Afro-Caribbean groups.
Whether you choose to visit our shores along our more than 1,600 kilometers (nearly 1,000 miles) of coastline, our verdant mountain towns, our fishing villages, or our cactus-lined landscape, you’ll uncover a unique side of the DR. Along the way, you’ll experience a unified passion for our music and dance–merengue, bachata, and son–our diverse gastronomy taking you beyond rice and beans, our love for baseball, family, and hospitality. Together, they make up the essence of our Dominican spirit.
The Dominican Republic is known to have the most diverse topography for a single nation in the Caribbean region. You can go from a sandy beach to a cool, mountainous town over 500 meters (1,700 feet) above sea level in less than three hours. The country’s coastline is no secret–racking up over 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) in total, with hundreds of accessible, breathtaking beaches. More surprisingly, DR is flanked by a series of grand mountain ranges, the most important of which–the Cordillera Central–is home to the Caribbean’s highest peak: Pico Duarte, sitting at 3,087 meters (10,128 feet).
With 25% of the land consisting of protected areas, most of which are easily accessed, there are a myriad of reasons to venture off the beach. Explore lush valleys, cloud forests, national parks on and off shore, rivers leading to waterfalls, offshore cayes where turtles nest, ancient Taino caves shrouded in thick rainforest, or pine forests with near zero temperatures. Discover natural wonders like Lago Enriquillo, a saltwater lake so large it surpasses the size of Manhattan, home to American crocodiles and sitting at 40 meters (138 feet) below sea level, the lowest point in the Caribbean.
It won’t take long to find your favorite Dominican landscape, after the beach.
To get to know more about the Majestic Resorts, you can visit here: https://www.godominicanrepublic.com/
We look forward to seeing you all on the fair TOUR EXPO Tourism Fair on the 9-10th of December, 2020.
