�We are very proud of the results we are seeing from our marketing efforts and travel partnerships,� said Felix Jimenez, secretary of tourism for the Dominican Republic. �In addition to these campaigns, Dominican athletes such as Sammy Sosa, Pedro Martinez and Alex Rodriguez are also helping to promote our country and image in the U.S.�

Tourism figures for 1999 exceeded all predictions made earlier in the year by the office of the Dominican Republic Secretary of Tourism. A goal of 1.2 million total visitors was set by the Secretary of Tourism in January 1999; with a total of 2.6 million total visitors recorded as of December 1999.

The number of U.S. visitors to the Dominican Republic has also increased as a result of expanded air service from the U.S.

TWA and New York-based travel wholesaler, Travel Impressions, will begin the first non-stop service to Punta Cana International Airport from New York�s John F. Kennedy Int�l Airport and New Jersey�s Newark Int�l Airport in February 2000. American Airlines, Continental Airlines and Tower Air offer a combined total of 247 weekly flights from the U.S. and are expanding service with the addition of new routes to the Dominican Republic.  Charter flights from the U.S. to the Dominican Republic also increased in 1999 with 30 new weekly flights added since the summer of 1998.

The U.S. continues to be one of the top three markets for tourists to the Dominican Republic. Germany, the United States and Canada together have provided 52 percent of all tourists to the Dominican Republic.  The second-largest country in the Caribbean, the Dominican Republic attracts visitors from all over the world with its excellent cuisine, active nightlife, casinos, historic locales, hundreds of miles of beautiful beaches and soaring mountains. It has the largest number of rooms in the Caribbean�more than 40,000 -- and seven international airports.