Our Story

Punta Cana Tours was founded by 3 normal guys who all shared a dream of making a living in the Dominican Republic. Easier said than done!

One way tickets to Paradise

Garry arrived from Haiti in 2005, TJ from New York in 2006 and Ken from Anguila in 2008; each of us with two suitcases and a dream of living full time in the Caribbean.

By late 2010, that Caribbean dream was pretty grim for TJ and Ken. After years of working together at dr1.com (a local English language tourism website) and just scraping by, Ken returned to the U.S. to be with his ailing father and TJ took a 6-month contract job for the Dominican Ministry of Tourism – in London of all places!

Garry, on the other hand, fared a bit better. Working his way up the Punta Cana tour operator ranks, he went from Transport Guide to Airport Manager for Sunwing, a major Canadian vacation company. Making good money but regularly working 12 hour days and nights, Garry was exhausted.

A Caribbean Dream

Garry had started a small tour operator side gig, in 2007, he named Caribbean Dream (perfect name for our story huh?). TJ and Ken knew of Caribbean Dream too. Over the years they’d helped Garry try and market his business on dr1.com.

But in early 2011, while working in London for the Dominican Ministry of Tourism, TJ had an idea – to partner up! He was meeting lots of travel agents interested in selling the DR, Garry had his side gig tour operator in Punta Cana and Ken, the tech guy, could put our entire idea online.

A leap of faith and a stroke of luck

So, Garry quit his big job, TJ turned down a full-time position with the Ministry of Tourism, Ken made peace with the passing of his father…and we got to work.

We started selling our tours 100% online. At the time, tours were sold mainly in hotel lobbies with a tour rep. We wish we could say we knew what we were doing! But we tripped over an opportunity and Caribbean Dream grew into one of the most trusted tour operators in Punta Cana; pioneering online sales for excursions and transport.

Punta Cana Tours

During the pandemic we re-branded the company name to match the web domain we purchased during our humble beginnings in 2011 (puntacanatours.com). 

Fortunately, the pandemic is over; travel is back and Punta Cana is back! And although we’ve added a few new faces to the team, we’re still TJ, Ken and Garry ready to answer your questions and offer up an unforgettable experience in our tiny corner of the Caribbean.

Thank you for reading our story and we thank you for choosing us. What a ride it’s been and we’re just getting started!

From left to right: Garry, Ken, TJ…And we did it all in flip flops!
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