Canadian World Traveller / Summer 2016 Issue
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40<br />
Tropical Tidbits<br />
by Sue C Travel<br />
Award-winning travel journalist Sue Campbell is based in Montreal but makes it her business to be on<br />
top of everything cool, hot, and new under the sun throughout the Caribbean and Latin America.<br />
<strong>Canadian</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>Traveller</strong> welcomes her as a new regular columnist. Follow her on Ttwitter @suectravel.<br />
<strong>Summer</strong> is Prime Time for<br />
Caribbean Travel!<br />
Now that we <strong>Canadian</strong>s are finally getting<br />
our fair share of warm weather during our<br />
criminally short summer, one might think<br />
that it’s not the time to head to tropical<br />
climes. But there are some very good reasons<br />
to do so.<br />
For one, top resorts in paradisiacal locations<br />
typically cut their rates to the bone<br />
during low season, sometimes throwing in<br />
extra nights or kids-stay-free packages and<br />
even going so far as to offer airfare credits,<br />
too! Another good reason is the parties!<br />
Some islands have their biggest blowouts<br />
during this time of year like Anguilla’s<br />
August <strong>Summer</strong> Festival and Barbados’<br />
Crop Over. You haven’t really experienced<br />
authentic Caribbean until you’ve learned to<br />
“jump up” with the locals!<br />
But one of my favourite reasons for heading<br />
south during the summer is to experience<br />
sea turtles in the wild! <strong>Summer</strong> is sea<br />
turtle nesting time on beaches throughout<br />
the Caribbean and Mexico. This is when<br />
the female turtles return to the beach where<br />
they were born to lay their eggs, and many<br />
resorts have sea turtle protection and conservation<br />
programs to protect them that visitors<br />
can participate in. Witnessing hatchings<br />
and helping baby sea turtles reach the<br />
sea in release programs when they need<br />
protection are truly magical experiences<br />
that should be on everyone’s bucket list.<br />
Dominican Republic Targets More<br />
Adventurous <strong>Traveller</strong>s<br />
<strong>Canadian</strong>s love to travel to the Dominican<br />
Republic to escape winter due to the excellent<br />
deals and affordable all-inclusive<br />
packages, but today’s savvy traveller also<br />
wants to explore beyond the resort and discover<br />
the surrounding communities and<br />
landscapes. And according to Dominican<br />
Tourism authorities the government is out to<br />
help make that easier.<br />
I learned about these plans at the recent<br />
<strong>2016</strong> Dominican Annual Tourism Exchange<br />
(DATE), the country’s official and biggest<br />
trade show for media and the travel industry.<br />
Strategies include new roads throughout<br />
the country connecting the lesser known<br />
interior regions and new activities focusing<br />
on nature explorations to get visitors off the<br />
beaches and into more active adventures.<br />
Tour operators will be offering more activities<br />
such as river rafting, mountain biking,<br />
zip-lining, paragliding, rappelling and hiking.<br />
Also planned is increased air access to<br />
lesser-known tourism destinations like<br />
Puerta Plata and Samaná. Plus, resorts like<br />
the new Sunscape Puerto Plata are offering<br />
excellent opening deals and packages with<br />
direct flights from Canada by Air Transat.<br />
Visit: www.godominicanrepublic.com<br />
Photo: Jamal Gumbs Anguilla<br />
Photo: Turtugaruba<br />
Photo: Dominican Republic Tourism<br />
Photo: Dominican Republic Tourism
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