Santo Domingo - tourist destination?

mountainannie

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Dec 11, 2003
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( BTBCF requires a local contact in whom we can place our trust and prior to the puzzle purchase we had no such Sto. Dgo. contact as it is not a vacation destination and therefore not a vacation destination for any of the Board Members. Most of our trusted contacts are developed over repeated vacations in a particular destination, usually PUJ or POP.

Hopefully more good info to follow.

Gregg

SD NOT a VACATION destination!!!
 
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mountainannie

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Dec 11, 2003
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I rise in defense of my chosen City

Because you perhaps do not like

music
theater
opera
high end shopping
dancing

and have
NO Appreciation

for the fact the SANTO DOMINGO is a UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE site

FILLED with colonial architecture

GREAT modern architecture

romance
tragedy
history
drama

skyscrapers

the Presidental Palace

foreign embassys

a WORLD CLASS Botanical garden

an interesting zoo wherein they appear to have hidden most of the animals

The FARO de Colon


the beating heart of the NATION

Some have been on the beach too long

clearly it has affected the reason

weekends in the City are sublime

remember, travel broadens the mind
 

FireGuy

Rest in peace Amigo!
Aug 21, 2002
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I think I struck a nerve by saying SD is not a tourist destination.

I'll move the last few posts to a new thread which won't detract from this very worthwhile one.

Gregg
 
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AlterEgo

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Jan 9, 2009
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Annie, you just did Santo Domingo proud. I agree with everything you said. It's a wonderful city.

Tried to give you reputation points, but I 'need to spread them around' :ermm:

AE
 

bienamor

Kansas redneck an proud of it
Apr 23, 2004
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Annie, you just did Santo Domingo proud. I agree with everything you said. It's a wonderful city.

Tried to give you reputation points, but I 'need to spread them around' :ermm:



AE

Well I made up for you this was a great summation of whats available in SD
 

mountainannie

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Dec 11, 2003
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thanks, Gregg

yes, you did touch a nerve...

I am a NYer born and raised although I did live for years in the mountains of North Carolina so I can appreciate that there are some people who simply cannot tolerate a city.

But sometimes here on DR1 it seems as if the entire Island is made of the beach towns which are a very special sort of life, each I suppose very different. And in their own way I think that they are as isolated from the life of the country as an AI is.

I can certainly understand how overwhelming the Capital may seem to someone who lives in a beach town and does not know their way around and perhaps does not even speak Spanish. But you certainly miss a great deal of what is going on in the country.

My decision after two years up in LT was that my life would be richer in the Capital since there was more intellectual life here.

So I would just encourage posters to appreciate that there is a lot going on in the country that they miss being out there on the beach. A trip to town every few months for a weekend might be good for their minds.
 

FireGuy

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Aug 21, 2002
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mountainannie,

You're enthusiasm and passion for your chosen city is obvious and admirable and my intent was not to denigrate Sto. Dgo. in any way, shape or form.

In listing off an impressive array of attractions and activities you do your city and your knowledge of it, proud and I am truly salivating at the future opportunities which I have yet to fully experience...

BUT

all the enthusiasm and passion in the world can't change the tourism facts.

Fully one half of all tourist airplane landings for the ENTIRE COUNTRY are in the sleepy little airport at Punta Cana (54.7%), a fictitious, made up collection of impressive, albeit gargantuan, all-inclusive resorts which act as a beacon to the millions and millions of annual tourists arriving in the DR. For crying out loud, Punta Cana isn't even a real town, just a loose collection of businesses which have sprung up to service tourism, over-priced gaudy vacation condos and villas with their pasty white owners, cheap and tawdry trinket vendors and a labour work force which is either relegated to a poor squatter's barrio, housed is crowded employee stables or is still bussed in from Higuey almost an hour away; due to the unaffordability of the area for residential purposes. The airport isn't even a government run entity having been ceded to Grupo Punta Cana either by a government of the day which was duped or ignorant about the future importance of airports or by good business acumen on the part of GPC.

But irrespective of all of these shortcomings this is where the majority of tourists flock in their millions...

Santo Domingo for all of it's appeal to you (and I am not trying to downplay this) comes in second in tourist landings at a less than impressive (19.3%) including who knows how many business men traveling on Tourist Cards and tourists actually destined for other locations, Boca Chica, Juan Dolio, Bayahibe, La Romana and some to even Punta Cana and Puerto Plata. Puerto Plata, the aging matron of the DR tourism scene, arrives at a geriatric (15.8%) of arrivals which while shrinking perceptibly over the years still rivals the capacity of La Capital. La Romana pulls up the reported rear at a modest (5.5%) of tourist arrivals. The newest jewel in the DR tourism crown, Samana's El Catey as well as Santiago and Baharona do not even rank a place on the list of tourist arrivals by airport; at least those reported at the Punta Cana & Dominican Republic Real Estate website.

A rudimentary analysis of the chosen destinations and my own first hand experience both conclude that the number one aspect of a DR vacation cherished by it's tourists - is the BEACH. Like it or not without a beach tourists would generally take a miss and as we all know Sto. Dgo. has NO BEACH.

As said before you do your city of choice proud but what you have generally listed (with some admitted exceptions) are generally considered to be big city conveniences and amenities, not tourist draws. Most people do not travel to experience more large, congested, bustling cities but to relax away from just this environ.

So for me, you have thrown down the gauntlet and I will try Sto. Dgo. as a travel but not necessarily a tourism destination, at my first real opportunity, but I may have to leave my beach loving wife at home because without sand in her toes, things could get ugly - LOL

Thank you again for your insightful posting.

Gregg
 
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Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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Santo Domingo is definitely worthy of being a tourist destination, but still hasn't fulfilled its potential. In practice the beach resorts are still the country's main attractions although there are moves to "diversify" tourism beyond this.

Gregg, PC airport was developed by the PC Group on the initial airstrip constructed by the Club Med which had the area's first resort. Because the road connections were so bad, their guests would fly to Las Americas and were then shuttled to Punta Cana. The government was never involved.
 

FireGuy

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Gregg, PC airport was developed by the PC Group on the initial airstrip constructed by the Club Med which had the area's first resort. Because the road connections were so bad, their guests would fly to Las Americas and were then shuttled to Punta Cana. The government was never involved.

I understand, more or less the development of PUJ and how it proceeded. My point is that in some way, shape or form the government of then day failed to realize the potential. PUJ is one of a very, very few private, international airports in the world (some reports I see say it is the only one but I am skeptical about claims of being unique).

Gregg
 

bigbird

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May 1, 2005
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Santo Domingo is definitely worthy of being a tourist destination, but still hasn't fulfilled its potential. In practice the beach resorts are still the country's main attractions although there are moves to "diversify" tourism beyond this................

Santo Domingo is a great city but NOT a tourist city. Very seldom have I seen tourists in SD. The only type of tourism I have seen are the bus tours. The bus tours make a stop at El Conuco restaurant, a brief stop at El Conde, and a few other quick sight seeing stops. Santo Domingo does not have what it takes to attract tourists. When people plan a vacation on an "island" they are generally seeking a white sandy beach. If SD had a decent beach things would really be different.

mountainannie your list is great but geared for those who have extended time in SD.

Has anyone ever seen a family with small children vacationing in SD?
 

bigbird

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do the cruise ship passengers not bother getting off the ship ?
I forgot about that little group which does an afternoon walking El Conde. I doubt if the cruise ship passengers make it any further than Parque Independencia. When the cruise ships arrive traffic is terrible, much worse than normal on the Malecon. If you spend time in SD you can go days on end and not see more than a handful of tourists.
 

bigbird

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Just because it does not have as many tourists as Punta Cana does not mean that it is not a tourist destination...
OK, Santo Domingo is not a major tourist destination in rep dom. My guess Punta Cana, Puerto Plata, Cabarete, and Sosua, all rank higher than SD.
 

Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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That's because the DR is marketed as a beach destination. There is a different market out there for tourists who are interested in history and culture and Santo Domingo has the potential to attract these.
 

RonS

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Oct 18, 2004
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While SD may be the starting point for most tourists, I doubt that it's the tourists 'destination' in the DR. I agree with Annie regarding all of the great things the capitol has to offer, and I spend some time in the capitol touring and enjoying the city when I am on vacation. However, most tourist I know, including yours truly, look for a beach, sun and sand. Because of its close proximity, Boca Chica would help make the capitol a true tourist destination if it could get its act together, but there are problems with BC, which have been discussed on this board ad nauseam.
 
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