Visitors may be interested to learn that Punta Cana started out as a company name, a brand created in the early 1970s by Frank Rainieri, for a piece of land originally called Punta Borrachón (Drunkard’s Point). Today, Punta Cana has become a country brand – the most recognised Dominican brand in the world – and its official name is now Puntacana.
The story begins in 1969 when a group of American investors, headed by Ted Kheel, bought 30 square miles of undeveloped land stretching along five miles of the Dominican Republic’s east coast, in the province of La Altagracia. The land was mostly impenetrable jungle and bush with no access roads and only a handful of small fishing villages dotted along the coast. The land stunned all who saw it, with white sand, coconut palms, crystal-clear waters and protective coral reefs.
Big ambitions
A few years later, Dominican entrepreneur Frank R Rainieri joined them with his vision to create a resort community that respects the natural habitat while providing visitors with a world-class vacation experience. At the time the area was still known as Punta Borrachón. Rainieri decided to rename it Punta Cana, after the fan-shaped cana palm leaf, Sabal causiarum, commonly known as the Puerto Rico hat palm, that flourishes in the area.
Rainieri, along with Kheel, founded and managed The Company of Residential and Touristic Development, known today as Grupo PUNTACANA, and began steady expansion, with the opening of a small hotel known as the Punta Cana Club. It had 10 two-room villas, a clubhouse, a small town for employees, a power plant and a basic aircraft runway. At full capacity this hotel could accommodate 40 guests.
The land stunned all who saw it
After an eight-year battle with three different governments, authorisation was obtained for the construction of the first private international airport in the country, allowing the resort’s primitive airstrip to be developed to accommodate full-sized commercial aircrafts. In a joint venture with Club Med, construction began and in 1984 Punta Cana International Airport (PUJ) was inaugurated with the first international flight when a twin-turbo propeller aircraft arrived from San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was, and remains, the world’s first and most successful privately built, owned and managed international airport.
PUJ sent Punta Cana soaring – in its inaugural year the airport received 2,976 passengers, and last year saw an incredible 2,589,980. It services over 60 resorts in the Punta Cana-Bávaro area and beyond. Punta Cana International Airport services 76 airlines with destinations to 96 cities in 28 different countries.
Hidden paradise
Due to Punta Cana’s isolated location, Grupo PUNTACANA decided to take on the responsibility of installing and maintaining all infrastructure projects. Access roads, security, waterworks, electricity, garbage disposal, waste disposal and schools are all operable thanks to the company and its subsidiary corporations. Since 1997 the owners of the group have been Kheel (since his passing he is represented by his son Robert Kheel and son-in-law Arnold Jacobs), Frank Rainieri, Julio Iglesias and Oscar de la Renta.
The hard work of Grupo PUNTACANA has transformed this once inhospitable jungle coastline into a booming industry, responsible for a quarter of the country’s gross domestic product. Corporate social responsibility plays an important role in the owners’ vision – a percentage of all profits from the airport are invested in community projects. The company’s mission to promote sustainable development ranges from medical facilities and interest-free educational loans, to revolving loan funding for their workers’ housing and an ecological foundation to protect and preserve the land and marine life.
Puntacana Resort & Club is the commercial name used for most of Grupo PUNTACANA’s touristic activities within that original piece of land. However, there are other companies including Punta Cana International Airport, Puntacana Village and Punta Cana Laundry Services, which do not come under the Puntacana Resort & Club umbrella. With over 45 years of experience, this company is rock-solid and has been able to grow even through the recent international financial crisis, while winning various prestigious international awards. The companies found within Grupo PUNTACANA currently employ 2,000 direct employees and 2,000 indirect employees and show no signs of slowing down.
As of today Puntacana Resort & Club contains: three hotels, one designed by Oscar de la Renta; two of the most recognised golf courses in the Caribbean, including Tom Fazio’s Corales with its stunning Devil’s Elbow, and the PB Dye-designed La Cana golf course. The resort has its own Village with various restaurants, an internationally accredited primary and secondary school, real estate, shops, medical services and many other amenities.
Green growth
Most of the services within the 15,000-acre resort are eco-friendly. Everything from the grass on the golf courses to the manure is sourced on property. The company has also invested in a biomass plant that recycles and reuses waste, creating vapour to launder clothes. All new golf carts on site are electric, and there is a coral restoration programme and a research centre dedicated to ecological preservation and development. Puntacana Resort & Club is one of the leading locations in the Caribbean for sustainable development.
The Punta Cana region continues to grow. The newly completed coral highway links Punta Cana to La Romana in just 35 minutes, and Santo Domingo can now be reached in less than two hours. The group is proud to have founded one of the top vacation destinations in the Caribbean. Puntacana Resort & Club’s future looks as if it will continue to brighten.
