http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/ec...industry-leaders/comment-posted#comments-note
This article got me involved in researching the numbers as I thought the DT claim of "premier Caribbean tourist destination" might be an exageration and sure enough, recent numbers indicate that not only is the DR the most travelled to country in the Caribbean (3.9 million tourist visits per year), it is also bringing in a higher dollar value per tourist than any of its competitors.
This has propelled the DR into the 2nd largest economy in the Central America/ Caribbean region and it's considered an "upper middle class" developing nation, having made leaps and bounds past competing neighbors in just the past handful of years.
Here's the stuff that interests me the most....in just "real estate tourism", time shares, condos, hotels, etc the DR is earning $1.5 billion a year which is just short of the entire tourism income of the #2 Caribbean destination, Puerto Rico with 3.7 million tourists bringing in $1.8 million (all compared $ are in USD). They also have a derivative of the tourism industry which I don't think can be matched in the region either. The DR is bringing in a staggering $3.2 billion in "remittances". That's a lotta daam Western Union.
Apparently the money's there to fix the problems. Love him or hate him but Leonel's government has done their part to bring the bucks in. They've just got to refocus on reinvestment before the golden goose chokes to death on garbage and untreated sewage.
This article got me involved in researching the numbers as I thought the DT claim of "premier Caribbean tourist destination" might be an exageration and sure enough, recent numbers indicate that not only is the DR the most travelled to country in the Caribbean (3.9 million tourist visits per year), it is also bringing in a higher dollar value per tourist than any of its competitors.
This has propelled the DR into the 2nd largest economy in the Central America/ Caribbean region and it's considered an "upper middle class" developing nation, having made leaps and bounds past competing neighbors in just the past handful of years.
Here's the stuff that interests me the most....in just "real estate tourism", time shares, condos, hotels, etc the DR is earning $1.5 billion a year which is just short of the entire tourism income of the #2 Caribbean destination, Puerto Rico with 3.7 million tourists bringing in $1.8 million (all compared $ are in USD). They also have a derivative of the tourism industry which I don't think can be matched in the region either. The DR is bringing in a staggering $3.2 billion in "remittances". That's a lotta daam Western Union.
Apparently the money's there to fix the problems. Love him or hate him but Leonel's government has done their part to bring the bucks in. They've just got to refocus on reinvestment before the golden goose chokes to death on garbage and untreated sewage.