Above: the Barcelo Bavaro Palace in Punta Cana (CJ Photo)
By Alexander Britell
PUNTA CANA – The Dominican Republic’s largest tourism conference officially begins Wednesday in the tourism hub of Punta Cana.
The Dominican Annual Tourism Exchange, or DATE, will bring together buyers and suppliers of a country that saw more than 4.5 million tourist arrivals last year, according to data from the Caribbean Tourism Organization.
That puts the country at the top of the Caribbean; the second-highest total came to Cuba, which saw approximately 2.84 million tourist arrivals, followed by Jamaica at 1.99 million.
That represented a 6 percent increase over 2011.
The conference is being held at the Bavaro Beach Resort in Punta Cana.
Caribbean Journal will be providing comprehensive coverage from the conference. For more information, you can also follow @caribjournal on Twitter.