Higüey, the eastern Dominican Republic town best known as home to the Basilica Cathedral of Our Lady of La Altagracia, is working hard to be seen as more than a pilgrimage stop. The Ministry of Tourism (MITUR) recently convened a business round there, bringing roughly 50 local experience providers face to face with 30 travel agents and tour operators. More than 200 meetings came out of it, all aimed at packaging the area's heritage, adventure, nature, food and farm experiences into sellable products.
The event, organised by MITUR's Domestic Tourism Directorate alongside the Higüey Destination Management Office, put the spotlight on attractions just 15 to 20 minutes from downtown, especially around Anamuya and Yuma. Think adventure and nature parks, cocoa, coffee, tobacco and chocolate farm visits, and small eco-friendly places to stay. It's a side of the Punta Cana hinterland most beach-bound visitors never see.
Local businesses on hand included Rancho Amalila, Hacienda Tuko-Eco Adventure Park, Boca de Yuma Adventure, Plantaciones Valentina, Runners Adventures-Monkey Land, Yira Restaurant, Hotel Boutique El Naranjo, Salto Taino, cheese-and-milk producer Queso y Leches La Pinta, and Café Totao. That mix alone tells you the pitch: it's not just tours, it's eating, drinking, sleeping and countryside rolled together.
One practical angle officials stressed is road access. Higüey connects easily with Santo Domingo and other parts of the country, which makes day-trip itineraries feasible — several attractions in one loop, back home by evening. For a traveller already staying on the eastern coast, that means a cultural and nature day out without changing hotels.
This was the third edition of MITUR's business rounds in emerging destinations, after earlier events in the mountain towns of Constanza and Jarabacoa. The programme's broader goal is to build local tourism networks, spread economic activity beyond the usual hotspots, and widen the menu for domestic travellers in particular.
Why should holidaymakers care? If you've done Punta Cana's beaches and want something with more texture — a chocolate plantation, a monkey sanctuary, a river swim at Salto Taino, a proper Dominican lunch — Higüey's hinterland is quietly assembling those options, and local operators are now actively wired into the travel trade to sell them. Expect more combo and day-trip packages to appear as agents build them out.
