Luperon

Luperon lies on the Atlantic Ocean in a stunning bay, which once kept Christopher Columbus from the ravages of storms typical of the area, which he called “Port of Thanksgiving or Grace, for being the place where I seek refuge to save your fleet”. The bay is surrounded by lush green mangroves.

Luperon is a town located north of the Country, which belongs to the province of Puerto Plata, distributed as follows: three boroughs; seven sections and fifty-five sites, which make a quantity of 517km2 in overall. Bordered on the north by the Atlantic Ocean, whose coastline is the Bay Cape Grace and Isabella, to the south by the municipalities belonging to Guananico Imbert, to the east by the municipality of the province of Puerto Plata and to the west by the municipality Villa Isabela. The tropical climate is dry with high temperatures in summer and autumn seasons.

Its main rivers are: Bajabonico; Caonao and Loran, which empty into the Atlantic Ocean. In its hydrography it also has some major streams and lakes such as Laguna de Puerto Caballo. The roads link the town of Luperon Imbert with the Duarte highway and the District Municipal La Isabela, site of the historic town of Luperon, where in 1494 they founded the first European City in America, in the Bajabonico River near where the first Mass was celebrated in the New World on 6th January 1494 and established the first Chapter of America on 24th April that year.

The town of Luperon has a population of 17.649 inhabitants which represent 5.64% of the total population in the Province of Puerto Plata. The municipality’s population is distributed at 4.183 inhabitants in the urban area accounting for 23.70% of the population and the remaining 76.30% is rural, representing about 13.466 inhabitants

According to some historians the founding of the Town of Luperon dates back to 1863, without stating the exact day, nobody can point out an exact date of its foundation, as people slowly began to form and it sometimes took decades before they became villages or towns. In wartime, many Spanish people fled from the south to Puerto Plata and sought refuge in the dense forests of mahogany wood, cedar and pine, where they began harvesting timber for sale. Grace Bay was its ally. It had a facility for berthing ships and schooners.

In the beginning the town was called “White”. Some say it was because of the name of a prominent businessman in the area whose name was used as a reference, since most of the traders who bought products from the village called him “The White Person.”

Others state that the name was awarded because the town’s patron was San Antonio de Blanco. This town is named after the famous patriot Gregorio Luperon who was the first national champion of the Restoration and brave patriot who was a descendant of a family established in the province of Puerto Plata. The Dominican Congress, by law, designated

Currently this Dominican Republic town enjoys a moment of progress with the construction of one of the largest Caribbean tourism projects valued at about 1,000 million dollars which would make this area a great tourist destination with great resorts and villas for visitors and natives. In addition, there are plans to build a magnificent coastal road to splice the main tourist sites in the area.

The economy of the Municipality of Luperon includes: crop and livestock production throughout the interior geography of the municipality; tourism mainly in the urban area of the municipality and a commercial sector provider of goods and articles; consumption and fisheries in the coastal area near the bay.

In addition to these areas they have developed a small business-oriented service of tourism fundamental to the bay, the big resorts operate all-inclusive, for when weather conditions make it difficult for tourists to go to the beaches. These complexes massively occupy the town of Luperon, offering food and recreational activities other than those offered in the resorts.

Although not well inside the city which depends mainly on agricultural production, there is a large and thriving livestock production, consisting mainly of cattle, within which there is a significant production of milk and cheese.

The greatest economic impact of tourism is sailing yachts or yachting that occurs annually in the bay. This generates about 100 pesos a month. A significant number of people in the municipality are dedicated to providing mechanical services and electrical repairs, fuel, water, cleaning and painting of the boats arriving in the Luperon marina.

Today tourism has become one of the main sources of the city’s economy, which also includes 2 big hotels and more than 10 micros hotels in the community, over 24 restaurants and 28 establishments engaged in tourism services. Luperon represents only 3% of housing supply in the region.