The World Travel Awards has nominated the Dominican Republic in 13 different categories in its 2024 edition.
The winners will be announced on May 19, 2024, in Jamaica.
The country has five notable nominations in the “Destination” category:
- Leading Adventure Tourism Destination in the Caribbean
- Leading Beach Destination in the Caribbean
- Leading Cruise Destination in the Caribbean
- Leading Natural Destination in the Caribbean
- Leading Sports Tourism Destination in the Caribbean
In addition, this category bears a special award called “Leading Caribbean Tourism Board,” which honors exceptional efforts made to market the location in order to draw tourists and keep its competitiveness.
In addition, the awards have honored three Dominican businesses in three categories related to tourism and transportation, as well as six Dominican hotel complexes in four categories.
In 2023, the Dominican Republic cracked all previous records for tourist arrivals, boasting the largest number of Caribbean visitors and stayover guests ever recorded.
In the first quarter of 2024, the country anticipates receiving more than 2.3 million tourists.
Officials report that only in January, the nation received over a million visitors by air and sea, most of whom were U.S. citizens.
Last but not least, David Collado, the Minister of Tourism, gave assurances that the government, business community, and academic institutions are working together to reduce the effects of sargassum on the Dominican Republic’s coasts.
“We are working intensely to find a short, medium, and long-term solution to this problem that affects beaches, and not only in the Dominican Republic,” he said after a cabinet meeting to combat sargassum.
He added that the minister would give the nation’s universities $1 million to support sargassum research.
Miguel Ceara Hatton, the Cabinet Coordinator and Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, announced that a group has been created to track sargassum on a daily basis. It will report to the Cabinet on how it plans to accomplish its goals and seek remedies in the near future.