Santo Domingo to welcome over 30,000 Pan Am visitors

Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, will receive more than 30,000 tourists during the 14th Pan American Games scheduled for August 1 to 17, said Jose Joaquin Puello, chairman of the Organizing Committee.

“You bet this is going to be a powerful drive for tourism in the Dominican Republic,” Mr. Puello said. “This is going to be something extraordinary, an unprecedented event of its kind.”

On the other hand, Mr. Puello mentioned there’ll be 5,196 athletes representing 42 countries in the Games, all members of the Pan American Sports Organization.

Mr. Puello is confident the amount of foreign visitors coming to Santo Domingo for the Games will no doubt outnumber the turnout of the past edition held in the Canadian city of Winnipeg back in 1999.

There’ll be official competitions in track and field, baseball, basketball, boxing, softball, weightlifting, judo, karate, wrestling, equestrian, hall and beach volleyball, soccer, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, cycling, tennis, table tennis, modern pentathlon, triathlon and bowling.

Such sports as badminton, racket ball, squash, skating, water skiing, rowing, kayaking, shooting, turf hockey, archery, sailing, handball, fencing and Basque ball will also be there.