Pleasure boat business

The licensing process is something out of the wild west. Get ready to bribe a variety of Department heads and staff including, but not limited to, the Port Authority, Navy, Police, and Tourism officials (if you want the process to be completed under 2 years).

Then you have to worry about the competition who has been entrenched in the industry for years. They are not likely to look at propsective competition too kindly. They too have paid many years of graft to public officials and will call in their favors to prevent you from becoming successful. Instead of asking questions here, I would suggest that you try to get a job with one of the present operators, and learn the local business from the inside.

Very, very hard.
The day charter boats, and catamarans, both on the North coast and in Punta Cana, are runned for many, many years and by some of the most powerful people in the tourismbusiness.
They run the largest companies in waterfun for tourists on the island.
There is another company on the North coast as well running catamaran tours, and they are almost starving as the BIG company has all the business.

Here business is based on so many things, licences, relations, money, insurances, and for instance just the contracts with the travel agents and groundhandlers will be impossible for you to get.

The other posters are right. The established businesses don't welcome competition and will do all they can to make the life of a prospective competitor difficult if not impossible.

Please Rick, enough of the childish posts.

I shake my head at this type of thread:

I am considering opening a company....

How on earth can you consider opening a company in an area of business you clearly know nothing about. If you had even been here you would know what is available. If you were serious yOu would have done some research first and not ask us these kinds of questions!

Go do your homework and stop wasting our time!

Isn't asking a question research?

planner said:

I shake my head at this type of thread:

I am considering opening a company....

How on earth can you consider opening a company in an area of business you clearly know nothing about. If you had even been here you would know what is available. If you were serious yOu would have done some research first and not ask us these kinds of questions!

Go do your homework and stop wasting our time!

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Robert asking a question after you have done some groundwork is good! Asking a question where we are expected to do all their work for them is basically a fishing expedition. As a business planner I take issue with it. This person obviously knows nothing about the possibility of being in this business and I suspect little about this country!

planner said:

Asking a question where we are expected to do all their work for them is basically a fishing expedition.

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A fishing expedition about fishing expeditions? Something is very fishy here.

planner said:

Robert asking a question after you have done some groundwork is good! Asking a question where we are expected to do all their work for them is basically a fishing expedition. As a business planner I take issue with it. This person obviously knows nothing about the possibility of being in this business and I suspect little about this country!

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Why do you assume that this is the only place questions are being asked?
I think asking questions on DR1 would be part of anybody doing their "homework". I bet if you just skipped over threads that don't interest you. . . .you woudl waste less time.

This happens on every online forum. The long time members lose patience with answering the "same" questions over and over, failing to realize that to the OP it is not an "old" question but a new one.

Can I get a...

rafael said:

Why do you assume that this is the only place questions are being asked?
I think asking questions on DR1 would be part of anybody doing their "homework". I bet if you just skipped over threads that don't interest you. . . .you woudl waste less time.

This happens on every online forum. The long time members lose patience with answering the "same" questions over and over, failing to realize that to the OP it is not an "old" question but a new one.

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....Amen, Rafael!

In my opinion that is the good thing about DR1... that it is a place to meet and being able to ask questions, or through out an idea to see the various responses coming... positive or negative, informative or not.... That might very much be part of doing a homework.

Dr1, in my opinion, should be for every one with an interest of DR..
This "us" - "them" mentality will take no one far.

planner said:

Robert asking a question after you have done some groundwork is good! Asking a question where we are expected to do all their work for them is basically a fishing expedition. As a business planner I take issue with it. This person obviously knows nothing about the possibility of being in this business and I suspect little about this country!

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I agree, some of the more simple questions (Can I get Internet service?) have been answered a thousand times on DR1, so those people usually get sent to the search function. This is not one of those simplistic questions in my opinion.

Let's move on and get back to the OP's question...

A boat is ..........

jross said:

I?m considering opening a business in the pleasure boat industry. Some of the ideas I have are:
- day charter catamarans
- party boats
- glass bottom boats

I?d like to know how the licensing and operating of such businesses is regulated and what the competition is like. What kind of investment, aside from the boat itself, will I need to start-up, and if there?s any areas of DR that aren?t already over flooded with these kinds of companies?

Thanks!

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A boat is a hole in the water you throw money into.

The idea of establishing a pleasure boat business in the D.R. does seem to have a certain charm. However, operation of the business would be anything but charming.

First you would have to do some market research, what, when, where, and how. How much money are you willing to invest? Deep pockets welcome. How much money can you lose and walk away? Business here is dog eat dog. There are no ethics and no remorse. How much time are you willing to invest? Business on the island, especially a service and tourist oriented business is a 24/7 enterprise. There are no days off for the owner. You take a day off ? you lose. To be independent in this pleasure boat service you have to own everything outright; boats, provisions, supplies, storage/repair/maintenance/office facilities, including the beachfront land and marina. Another headache - the help is poorly educated or has no education, salaries are low, and they may steal from you to make up the difference. The educated help will steal from you because they know employment here is not long term, someday they will be fired. The help will say yes to everything you request even if they cannot produce. If you lease or depend on services by anyone other than you by contract or verbal agreement; your business exists at their whim, they will abandon you at a moments notice or no notice at all. Because, a contract is a piece of paper worth nothing and a verbal contract is denied as easily as taking a swallow of beer.

Regulation - There are overlapping layers of government bureaucracy and oversight of tourist oriented business. You will need permission from local municipal government, national police, tourist police, tourist board, navy, and who knows what to establish a business. It includes paying fees and kickbacks to each. Also, license to operate within a certain coastline zone of the country is granted to an operator who can make the biggest payoff, legal or other, to the bureaucracy(s) in charge issuing the license. You, if you desire to operate in that zone will have to pay a commission to the license holder.

If all of the above is charming then you may have a heck of a chance to operate a pleasure boat business here. Remember, a boat is a hole in the water you throw money into.

Regards,
PJT

In the end questions have been asked and answered. No harm, no foul. Sometimes when you ask in a public message board you have to listen to opinions of people who have NO CLUE and you have to mine the info.

Some times giving more thought to your questions get better, kinder and gentler answers.

Just my dos pesos!

I have a very close friend who has been trying to do the same thing in Jamaica.

After being down there for about a year (even with numerous friends and contacts on the island) the 'red tape' and obstacles have him about beat, and ready to give it up! I have no doubt you would find the same thing to be true in the DR!

But if you insist on trying, I could get you in touch with him to purchase his boat. It's a 54' tri, 6 double berths, 4 heads, and all the bells and whistles, you name it and it has it.

I?ll bet you could get it at a bargain price.

its people like planner that cast a negative shadow across this forum.
1/questions ARE research, and ARE particularly useful with respect to formulating a plan. Planner how do you know he hasnt completed further ground work (he's told you only what he wants you to know) Perhaps he's comparing your responses with other information he's received from other sources, you don't know this. This is why people get upset with you lot (not all of you though) you inject your own thoughts and 'guestimates' into a discuss instead of simply answering the question. For example you suspect he hasnt even been here, well thats not even relevant (its none of your business, actually!)

This is a place to ask questions so planner don't get upset because people actually realise this and you dont.

planner said:

Robert asking a question after you have done some groundwork is good! Asking a question where we are expected to do all their work for them is basically a fishing expedition. As a business planner I take issue with it. This person obviously knows nothing about the possibility of being in this business and I suspect little about this country!

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I disagree with you Billyidol and that is my right. I also have the right to express my opinions just as you do. It does not make either of us right!

That being said, it is my business to formulate business plans. Way too many people go off with half a dream - not even a well thought out dream - and then expect to be successful.

My peeve is the people who want someone else to do the work for them. They are not willing to do the work to research their own dream, they are not willing to pay for someone else to do the work for them, they just want it done. The research isn't done properly, the planning isn't done, they lose a pile of money and they wonder what went wrong.

I am pretty clear - do your homework. Use the search function, get your a$$ down here and look into it yourself! See who is in the business, who is in the market....etc etc. Then start to ask some well thought out questions. That is the key in my opinion - WELL THOUGHT OUT BUSINESS QUESTIONS.

There is lots of help available here to those who are also willing to help themselves.

It is apparent Billy that you think I am negative. Well I am not actually. I am a very positive person, personally and in business. I've helped out lots of people here and will continue to do so. But, I get to pick and choose how I do it and with whom. I am not paid to do this. I do it because I choose to.

I have no idea who you are, what you do, where you live, how long you have been reading this board and I will not make assumptions. But I have been doing this for some time and while I am sorry you don't like the way I answered the question - too bad, it is my answer.