It has been one hundred years since Mexico City. Sixteen days. 6,500 athletes from 37 nations. And a capital city that has been waiting since 1974 for a moment exactly like this one
The opening ceremony flame will light at Félix Sánchez Olympic Stadium on the evening of July 24, and when it does, Santo Domingo will become the first city in history to host the Central American and Caribbean Games twice. Every international visitor in those stands, along with the 6,500 athletes who traveled from 37 nations to compete, has already filed their eticket DR, the Dominican Republic’s mandatory digital entry form, required of all foreign nationals before they board a flight to the island, without exception. The paperwork takes minutes. The occasion it unlocks took a century to arrive.
The 25th Central American and Caribbean Games, running July 24 to August 8, 2026, is the centennial edition of the oldest regional multi-sport event in the world, first held in Mexico City in 1926, exactly 100 years ago. That milestone alone makes this year’s edition significant. But the broader sports tourism picture makes it commercially extraordinary. According to Expedia Group’s 2025 Sports Tourism Report, which surveyed 2,000 travelers across eight countries, 44 percent of sports fans now travel internationally for events, rising to 56 percent among travelers aged 16 to 34. The average sports trip generates over $1,500 in spending per person, and three in five fans extend their stay beyond the host city. For a destination already setting tourist records, the timing could not be better.
A Century of Games
The event that begins in Santo Domingo this July was born in the age of radio. The inaugural Central American and Caribbean Games took place in Mexico City in 1926, conceived by regional sports administrators who believed the Olympics model could work at a smaller, more accessible scale across the Americas. The idea held. The Games have run every four years since, becoming a proving ground for Olympic talent and a platform for smaller nations that rarely feature in global sports coverage.
The Dominican Republic has hosted twice before, in Santo Domingo in 1974 and in Santiago de los Caballeros in 1986. This centennial edition is the third, and the first time Santo Domingo itself takes the stage again. The centrepiece venue is the Félix Sánchez Olympic Stadium, named after the Dominican sprinter who took gold in the 400-meter hurdles at Athens 2004, and which now hosts the opening and closing ceremonies on July 24 and August 8.
What the 2026 Games Actually Involve
According to Panam Sports, the 2026 edition features more than 6,500 athletes competing across 40 sports and 50 disciplines in 483 events, a scale that places it firmly in the category of genuine mega-events. The sports list runs from athletics and swimming through baseball, boxing, and volleyball to surfing, esports, and chess. Every competition also serves as a qualifier for the Lima 2027 Pan American Games, which raises the competitive stakes considerably: for many athletes from smaller nations, these Games represent their best chance at securing a path to the next level.
The athletic quality of the track and field program alone makes a compelling case for attendance. Marileidy Paulino, the Dominican Republic’s double Olympic champion in the 400 meters, will compete at home for the first time in a Games of this scale. The triple jump is set up as a direct rematch of the Paris 2024 Olympic final: Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela, the world-record holder and Tokyo champion; Thea Lafond of Dominica, the reigning Paris Olympic champion; and Cuba’s Leyanis Pérez, the three-time world champion, are all expected to compete. No specialist in that event will want to miss it. Mexico’s diving team, headlined by Olympic medalists Osmar Olvera, Juan Celaya, and Gabriela Agundez, is confirmed in full.
“Santo Domingo will become the first city to host the Central American and Caribbean Games for the second time in its history.” — Panam Sports, June 2026
Why Santo Domingo Works Beyond the Stadium
The Dominican Republic welcomed a record 11.6 million visitors in 2025. The capital has long been the country’s most underutilized tourism asset, drawing far fewer visitors than Punta Cana despite holding, by any reasonable measure, the more compelling cultural offer. The Zona Colonial, the UNESCO-listed historic district that constitutes the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the Americas, is walkable, dense with 16th-century architecture, and surrounded by an emerging restaurant scene that has outgrown its local reputation. The Billini Hotel, set inside a former colonial convent on a quiet street in the district, and the Hodelpa Nicolás de Ovando, which occupies the home of the city’s founding governor, are the two properties that most fully embody the neighborhood’s character.
On Sunday evenings, the Bonyé group plays live merengue and salsa in the open-air ruins of the Monastery of San Francisco, the first monastery of the New World, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., free of charge. The Malecón waterfront, redesigned ahead of the Games, runs along the southern coastline and is best at dusk, when the Caribbean light does something to the water that no photograph captures. Athletes based here for prior qualifying events often mention the food first when asked what surprised them.
Before You Go
All foreign nationals traveling to the Dominican Republic must complete a digital entry declaration before boarding. The form consolidates customs and immigration information into a single QR code. Round-trip travelers need separate entry and exit codes, both applicable simultaneously. Standard processing takes a few hours. Apply at least 72 hours before departure.
One hundred years is a long time for a sporting tradition to hold. The Games that began in Mexico City in 1926 with a handful of delegations and a radio audience now fill stadiums in the Caribbean’s oldest city, with athletes who will be Olympians in Los Angeles in 2028 competing on the same track where a Dominican champion once ran. That is what a centenary looks like. Santo Domingo is ready for it.
