North Coast Upgrade

william webster

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Jan 16, 2009
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I don't know where to put this.... or even know where to sart.

So many threads ---
Clean up Sosua
Rumor of New Road
Luxury Hotels entering the market

Where there's smoke, there's fire.

If it smells like fish......

The Sosua cleanup speaks for itself....
something's going on.

ju10 has confirmed the road rumor
I keep hearing it too.

Luxury hotels are here.... no denying it.

I falsely predicted a bust for the new Aman Hotel at Playa Grande.... Amanera is its name
Wrongo.....
That location is the most successful opening that any Aman Hotel in the world has ever had.

GO FIGURE

My interpretation is -
Great architecture --- stunning
View is incomparable

More critical is access....
so easy from NYC, etc.

I throw these ideas out because of the one extreme success I point out.

The other North Coast upper ends may not have fared as well.

But there are enough of them entering the market and trying that the gov't is aware.

None of these appear without the knowledge and even the blessing of the Ministry of Tourism.
Danilo appeared at least twice to open the Playa Grande site,,,,, others too, I'm sure


It may not be a pipe dream...... it may actually continue and flourish.

Keep that No Coast property value thread going.....
and call me when you ahve a buyer for my house !!!

Unlike many - I am going bigger & better when I sell.
 
Jul 28, 2014
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William, kudos to you for Hyperbole and Hypothesis. But alas, I believe it ends there, unless you have facts you are not unveiling?
 

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
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Perhaps I do........

Listen to the tom - toms...... the beat of the jungle

Notice all the new pavement on Rte #5 ?

The 'Police Assist" cars

I hope I haven't misstated any facts in my original posts.

You need to lift the veil, Guillermo


Given that tourism is RD's biggest revenue producer,
How long will they let the NoCoast lie fallow??

Did they do a bad job in Punta Cana....... ???
Busiest airport in the country
 

ju10prd

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Nov 19, 2014
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WW let's start beefing out your thoughts with something dv8 posted yesterday in the Ampitheatre thread:

http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2016/07/13/puerto-plata-recupera-esplendor-turistico

Everybody should read this to get a flavor of what appears to be happening or is planned at least in the PP area.

This article refers to the western end of the North Coast and as many will be aware, some of the older hotels in the PP area have been undergoing refurbishment as mentioned in the article. The Gran Ventana is one and I have read some good reports.

Now from my knowledge there were several significant upscale hotel developments planned for the area just west of Cabarete before the 2008 crash. They have not yet resurfaced due in part to the degraded image of the area but perhaps that is being addressed if you read the many recent articles about tourism in the area. Serious money comes when the investor believes he can get the necessary returns on investment, the required finance, which invariably involves local banks, and sufficiently attract a target market through good marketing.

The North Coast in my humble opinion apart from near PP, is not ideal for AI properties. Some time share maybe but that isn't exactly quality. The small towns already have small hotels and apartments and with improvements and change of business model could attract a mixed clientele including the very important weekend/holiday middle class Dominicans who inject very significant money into the local economies in other small resort towns and the East Coast.

WW, In your neck of the woods, either side of Cabrera, I personally think there are some great locations for quality hospitality developments and if the Nagua bypass gets built that would help significantly by making the trip from the airport at El Catey short.

Aman is an exception. Amanera is doing well and Amanyara nearby also did and continues to do exceptionally well. The presence of such a brand attracts the attention of other top marque hospitality brands and a top end limited market. I was involved with one such equal brand in the North East Coast and that may still happen. So maybe in the longer term there are spin offs for RD.......not sure about NC right now. The South West will and is attracting interest as a certainty and that region markets itself very well with government backing.

Now the eastern end. Nagua and brings me to something a number of Sosua posters will reject. Nagua attracts weekend Dominicans in large numbers, but they are the poor campo type and that is exactly what Sosua is doing right now. Sosua business owners need go look at Las Terrenas and see that that town is equally ill kept at the back end of town, but the front end provides quality small town hospitality without excessive bars. That can be a model for the future.

Yep better infrastructure is also key. Government must deal with this as they did so for the South and East Coast and are now in process in the South West. I do hope there is more firm information in the press about the upgrade of the NC road and they do invest continually as seems to be happening. Image is key and what the tourist sees when departing PUJ elevates that image.

I first visited the area around Puerto Plata in 1983 and the recollection is excellent. I visited the west end again a few times 2005 to 2010. Frankly for me, there is zero reason to consider a revisit right now because there are far better options throughout the country. But the basics for good tourism are still there for growth with better quality and image if the various tourist bodies (and businesses) work in unison instead of PP, Sosua and Cabarete all doing their own thing. I hope so as it would be good for DR as a whole.

That was an positive view........and now for all the forecasts of doom...........simply because the in your face bottom end sex tourism is being suppressed in just a very few kilometers of a very interesting some 300km long coast with lovely mountain range behind and some history.
 

william webster

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Jan 16, 2009
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Gracias Jul

I know where I am on this topic and have a good idea of where they are.

Watch.... just watch...

I expect nothing tomorrow..... but watch
 

ramesses

Gold
Jun 17, 2005
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WW let's start beefing out your thoughts with something dv8 posted yesterday in the Ampitheatre thread:

http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2016/07/13/puerto-plata-recupera-esplendor-turistico

That was an positive view........and now for all the forecasts of doom...........simply because the in your face bottom end sex tourism is being suppressed in just a very few kilometers of a very interesting some 300km long coast with lovely mountain range behind and some history.

I fail to understand. I love Sosua as a little beach town. Towns such as Sosua are hard to find.

The drive is to make it the same as every other resort town, void of uniqueness.

Nothing to do with sex tourism.
 

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
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This is WAAAAAY bigger than Sosua

Drop the local Chamber of Commerce crap.....

What will they do with the North Coast...... as an underdeveloped asset ???

Not Sosua, for goodness sake......
it's a much bigger target

Maybe that's what they're thinking............huh???
 

chico bill

Dogs Better than People
May 6, 2016
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Puerto Plata is OK in the day for some shopping. But at night it is one of the most dangerous places on the North Coast. Even during the day it is full of beggars and hustlers who pester you.
I have 3 friends with condos there. All have been robbed and my female friend , who was born in Sosua, moved out.
They actually scaled the outside of her building and used a pole or fishing line to steal her purse through a barred window. Then they raced from place to place using her credit cards until she awoke noticed e-mail from the banks and had the cards canceled.
Until the police actually clean up the whole country you have to be very very careful where you invest or travel. If you are a Gringo you are being watched and sized up on what you might have.
I challenge one person who has lived in DR for 12 months and regularly used credit cards to say they haven't had fake charges. Anyone ?
 

ju10prd

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Nov 19, 2014
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This is WAAAAAY bigger than Sosua

Drop the local Chamber of Commerce crap.....

What will they do with the North Coast...... as an underdeveloped asset ???

Not Sosua, for goodness sake......
it's a much bigger target

Maybe that's what they're thinking............huh???

You know something then from your contacts.........

Any vineyard resorts planned on the NC? lol
 

chico bill

Dogs Better than People
May 6, 2016
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Man am I gonna make it big!!!
I can't wait..

My new yacht is already on order...

I can barely handle my dinghy. How quick will it take them to strip your docked yacht ? And FYI plenty of abandoned ones in Luperon selling for 60 cents on the dollar.
 

wrecksum

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Sep 27, 2010
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I can barely handle my dinghy. How quick will it take them to strip your docked yacht ? And FYI plenty of abandoned ones in Luperon selling for 60 cents on the dollar.

I shall leave a very capable local chap in charge of security......

What could possibly go wrong?
 

Ecoman1949

Born to Ride.
Oct 17, 2015
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When I see Jimmy Buffett and Oprah Winfreys yachts tied up at the Sosua marina, I'll believe it's actually happening. Can't imagine Jimmy writing a Cheeseburger In Paradise song about Sosua. Still, stranger things have happened.
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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The Big Picture on the north coast - not just about Sosua's War on Whores

WW, I think you are correct. The current attempt to clean up the reputation of Sosua is being done to attract investment to the DR, not just to Sosua. That bad reputation is what the DR government sees as one impediment to this new development on the north coast.

Those focussing on just one small section of Sosua, where the whore-mongers are saviours of the hooker's children for whom they provide the only possible sustenance , are missing this very important point.