Little-known Dominican retreat preps for Caribbean big leagues

Miches, Dominican Republic.- Few places can boast as manyfeatures as the town of Miches; on Samana bay: prairies, mountains, lakes,waterfalls, beautiful sand, rivers, streams, mines and even Taino Indian burialsites, attraction which in addition to being unrivaled, reveals its great potential.

Forests, strategic location close to the Bavaro-Punta Cana resortregion, a pristine beach as yet untapped.

It boasts the charm of Cayo Levantado, dubbed BacardiIsland, Los Haitises National Park and the spectacle put on by the humpbackwhales from January to March every year.

Many wage on Miches’ future and it it’s not a whim: Deep pocketinvestors such as Venezuelan-Dominican mogul Gustavo Cisneros already announceda major project expected to make the town one of the most attractive destinationswith a bright future in tourism.

On Thursday the Cisneros’s Tropicalia group broke groundfor the construction of an “ecologically sustainable” luxury tourism project whosefirst phase will be built at a cost of more than US$300 million.

Also favoring Miches’ chances are the more than 62 hotelsin adjacent La Altagracia province, where space for new resorts is gettingscarce.

Tropicalia’s real estate and resort project, despite itsover 10 years in the making, mark a before and after that could position Michesamong the Caribbean’s upscale tourism destinations.