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A lot of businesses closed in Sosua
This is a brilliant attack.
Each time they try to kill Sosua completely it has bounced back re-invented but closing the bars could have the desired result.
I've just been around the town and the Ministerio cerrado signs are up on many places.
This will really reduce crime and increase investment enormously as unemployment and poverty will vanish overnight and Sosua will finally become the Monaco of the Caribbean.
Just a few hundred people out of a job and thousands of dollars lost doesn't matter.These are just the poor working people.Ha!
The pavements are almost done and the motoconchos are standing by to rule the road.
DR has it all:
Corruption,Self interest, stupidity,xenophobia,intolerance,zika and co.,power cuts,water shortages,thieving transport sindicos, much,much more,,and,coming soon, empty streets.
Each time they try to kill Sosua completely it has bounced back re-invented but closing the bars could have the desired result.
I've just been around the town and the Ministerio cerrado signs are up on many places.
This will really reduce crime and increase investment enormously as unemployment and poverty will vanish overnight and Sosua will finally become the Monaco of the Caribbean.
Just a few hundred people out of a job and thousands of dollars lost doesn't matter.These are just the poor working people.Ha!
The pavements are almost done and the motoconchos are standing by to rule the road.
DR has it all:
Corruption,Self interest, stupidity,xenophobia,intolerance,zika and co.,power cuts,water shortages,thieving transport sindicos, much,much more,,and,coming soon, empty streets.
I wonder what they think about the 70,000 that live here. Most of the girls are from other parts of the country...I wonder if they go home and give up?
Somehwat embarrassing I agree but they first must look at themselves and see if they have participated in any other embarrassing things that go on in this country. I wont bother listing but education starts at home! Plus crime cannot be controlled by criminals(police) they are only serving their own best interests this is why the whole logic side of this strategy will not work.
the whole idea of a Sosua cleanup is just a ripoff waiting to happen. some politicos are looking to make money by cleaning up the town for residents, not for tourists. get rid of the girlies, and hordes of American and Euros will be buying villas and condos, without having to bump into Belkis in Playero.
For Sosua to attract family vacationers, a lot of work needs to be done. There are not enough AI resorts in Sosua, there are very few local excursions/activities for families to do together, upscale shopping is nonexistent, there are no familiar fast food restaurants for the kids, the beaches are not world class, the town is dirty, prone to flooding and the poverty and squalor within eyesight of the front door of some residentias makes tourists uncomfortable.
The snowbirds who continue to come in the winter months do so to socialize with their other snowbird friends and patronize their favorite watering holes. Last year many that I met the year before did not return. Some of this was in part due to the low CDN dollar but some of it is the fact that it is just too difficult to justify the expense of a 2 or 3 month stay with so little on offer in Sosua.
Some I know who are planning to return this winter are planning to stay well outside El Batey and Sosua proper. For Sosua to really prosper, it must embrace and promote itself to the expat community. The only tourism that Sosua has any hope of recapturing are the winter snowbirds and that would mean nightly entertainment around town, upscale bars and restaurants that are air conditioned, with chefs that know how to make the 4 basics sauces, use cuts of meat that aren't shoe leather tough, are affordable and enjoyable to eat at day after day.
Sosua needs a Walmart sized Super Pola, containing products especially food stuffs that make staying here for months on end much easier. I often walk through Playero and can't find a single thing I want to eat for dinner. Pola is much worse. Pola almost never has diet coke or diet Pepsi in 2L bottles. Although more convenient for me to sometimes stop a Pola instead of Playero, I just don't bother anymore because what I am looking for isn't there and there is nothing else that can't be had down the street while I'm picking up the items that I must have.
Gringos like to shop. Gringos who live here prefer recognizable quality products that are always in stock and easily found. Sosua needs clothing stores where gringos can purchase Tommy Bahama bathing suits, stores where you can see all the nuts and bolts and pick the size you need, furniture stores with products you would be proud to have your guests sit on, not these stupid plastic chairs that are everywhere. We need access to NA electronics, Weber BBQs and BBQ parts - everything we currently smuggle into the country in our suitcases or via mudanza cuz we can't get it here.
Sosua needs to grow up. Recognize that its dream of being a world class tourist destination has long since passed it by. Sosua needs to look to the future and figure out what it can be, what people want it to be and work fast a furiously to become that before the people are again forced to choose somewhere else with better beaches, better services, better products, and a more responsive and pleasant customer service experience.
Sosua needs a 5 year plan, with clear and attainable benchmarks. As long as there is demonstrable progress, people can be patient. Those living here already would probably opt to wait to Neuvo Sosua. Patience has its limits though and mobile expats and new residents who are renting for their first year, won't wait forever before moving on to someplace or some country that offers more.
The snowbirds who continue to come in the winter months do so to socialize with their other snowbird friends and patronize their favorite watering holes. Last year many that I met the year before did not return. Some of this was in part due to the low CDN dollar but some of it is the fact that it is just too difficult to justify the expense of a 2 or 3 month stay with so little on offer in Sosua.
Some I know who are planning to return this winter are planning to stay well outside El Batey and Sosua proper. For Sosua to really prosper, it must embrace and promote itself to the expat community. The only tourism that Sosua has any hope of recapturing are the winter snowbirds and that would mean nightly entertainment around town, upscale bars and restaurants that are air conditioned, with chefs that know how to make the 4 basics sauces, use cuts of meat that aren't shoe leather tough, are affordable and enjoyable to eat at day after day.
Sosua needs a Walmart sized Super Pola, containing products especially food stuffs that make staying here for months on end much easier. I often walk through Playero and can't find a single thing I want to eat for dinner. Pola is much worse. Pola almost never has diet coke or diet Pepsi in 2L bottles. Although more convenient for me to sometimes stop a Pola instead of Playero, I just don't bother anymore because what I am looking for isn't there and there is nothing else that can't be had down the street while I'm picking up the items that I must have.
Gringos like to shop. Gringos who live here prefer recognizable quality products that are always in stock and easily found. Sosua needs clothing stores where gringos can purchase Tommy Bahama bathing suits, stores where you can see all the nuts and bolts and pick the size you need, furniture stores with products you would be proud to have your guests sit on, not these stupid plastic chairs that are everywhere. We need access to NA electronics, Weber BBQs and BBQ parts - everything we currently smuggle into the country in our suitcases or via mudanza cuz we can't get it here.
Sosua needs to grow up. Recognize that its dream of being a world class tourist destination has long since passed it by. Sosua needs to look to the future and figure out what it can be, what people want it to be and work fast a furiously to become that before the people are again forced to choose somewhere else with better beaches, better services, better products, and a more responsive and pleasant customer service experience.
Sosua needs a 5 year plan, with clear and attainable benchmarks. As long as there is demonstrable progress, people can be patient. Those living here already would probably opt to wait to Neuvo Sosua. Patience has its limits though and mobile expats and new residents who are renting for their first year, won't wait forever before moving on to someplace or some country that offers more.
Maybe I do and maybe the NC has a target group, but I doubt that the NC will ever be a primary tourist destination as it once was.
Times have changed. In the time the NC deteriorated hundreds of thousands of beds have been built in the Caribbean, all of the to a higher standard.
I don't know what they are trying to do currently, I don't think they do. But it they try to make a 'regular tourist' spot out of the NC, they will fail.
How many businesses have closed in Los Charimicos over the last ten years? Five maybe? Maybe they should forget about tourism in El Batey and start trying to be just another town. Empty storefronts don't benefit anyone no matter how much rent they can get for four months out of the year. The expats can still be barflies at Brittania, and on Sundays they can get busloads from the cities, but chasing after the AI market is a waste of time and killing what tourism there is. May as well shut down POP airport while they're at it.
If you think Diet Pepsi is hard, try getting Diet Seven Up, they have it on stock a few days a month. Diet Pepsi (or Coke Zero) is always my backup buy.
And for the rest of your post. Cudos, Spot on Analyzes.
Sadly Buster, while well written, your Manifesto is na?ve and has expectations way, way beyond what is possible or even thinkable in Sosua, D.R.
It is na?ve to think that the amount of investment $$ would come to this place in the sun. It is something to dream I suppose, but will never happen. When I first came to Sosua maybe 20 years ago there were 2 flights/day from MIA, 2 from SJU and about 10 from EWR and JFK. If the airlines won't invest then you cannot expect anyone else to. New AI's, dream on, no planes to carry the clients and the rest of the intrastructure just isn't there.
The corrupticians closed Moby Dick, then Tucan and Casablanca, but new ones opened, closed and reopened and the cycle repeated itself. Back then Merengue was a nice visit, no putas allowed. They waited on the curb with the motos. Today these bars are closed or walled in.
Never have I considered Sosua a "family" town for Tourists, yes for Dominicans, but never for tourists. Just aint happening.
Lost in all of the debate and actions of the corruptiians is the pain and loss of income to the very residents who need the Tourist money the most. The 70,000 residents are the ones whose opinion should count, not ours. The locals call the Putas neighbors or clients. They spend money. Cutting off nose to spite face.
It is na?ve to think that the amount of investment $$ would come to this place in the sun. It is something to dream I suppose, but will never happen. When I first came to Sosua maybe 20 years ago there were 2 flights/day from MIA, 2 from SJU and about 10 from EWR and JFK. If the airlines won't invest then you cannot expect anyone else to. New AI's, dream on, no planes to carry the clients and the rest of the intrastructure just isn't there.
The corrupticians closed Moby Dick, then Tucan and Casablanca, but new ones opened, closed and reopened and the cycle repeated itself. Back then Merengue was a nice visit, no putas allowed. They waited on the curb with the motos. Today these bars are closed or walled in.
Never have I considered Sosua a "family" town for Tourists, yes for Dominicans, but never for tourists. Just aint happening.
Lost in all of the debate and actions of the corruptiians is the pain and loss of income to the very residents who need the Tourist money the most. The 70,000 residents are the ones whose opinion should count, not ours. The locals call the Putas neighbors or clients. They spend money. Cutting off nose to spite face.
All very true.
The problem is 'who is listening?'
Not the myopic planners for sure..
Just spoke with some Dominican business friends here in Sosua who still think that the cruise ships will deliver in their thousands once this place is a paradise.
Impossible to shake this idea.Too deeply rooted in the hype they have been fed.
I really hope it works but having seen other cruise destinations I'm not hopeful....
Impossible to shake this idea.Too deeply rooted in the hype they have been fed.
I really hope it works but having seen other cruise destinations I'm not hopeful....
They didnt do good yesterday. Rumba was closed Friday. All day and night. There was a sign posted on the door. "Clausurado."
Why would any carrier or travel agent reommend flying into the NC when the airport has so much higher taxes. This blatant mistake that never seems to be discussed is obviously purposeful to continue to drive tourism away from the NC in preference to Punta Cana. Their agenda is clear in many ways all this Sosua banter is pointless, the powers that be dont really care about the NC.
I remember the first time the night life closed at midnight. In Santo Domingo, many restaurants and bars went out of business for good. There was a restaurant located on Av. George Washington I ate breakfast at 5 am, they went out of business for good. My second option was Manolo and they closed at midnight. I use buy some goods for my fridge after midnight in a small colomado on Av. Independencia and I sure they had to operate at a loss due to the midnight closing. Santo Domingo was a ghost town after midnight in those days and it shall be again. I really never enjoyed the Capital as I did before the closings at midnight, so I didn't go as often. Sosua and Cabarete didn't fair any better. The only places opened after 12 am in Sosua were Playa Chiquita and then After One. I use to keep good quantity of pollo a la parrilla since there was nothing open after midnight back then and I don?t care too much for Sosua street food. This closing will have a trickledown effect as many of you have already stated. The people of the Dominican Republic will suffer.
What they think is they want to get rid of prostitution, or reduce it to a minimum. Whatever else happens is not part of the thought process.
The cost to airlines to fly into POP is a given. It's not mentioned because that problem is so obvious even the blind can see it.
I'm trying to think beyond the tourists who won't be coming, the cruisers, who wont be coming and this whole idea that a few palm trees and a swept sidewalk is all it will take to turn things around. Those clean sidewalks go nowhere that anyone wants to go 7 days or nights a week.
I'm thinking of the old mining towns in Northern Ontario and Quebec, that were destitute when the mine closed. In what I still consider a stroke of genius, many become and aggressively marketed themselves as retirement communities, with low cost housing, good medical facilities, bridge clubs, bars, libraries, cable TV and decent internet. Local stores and banks rounded out the package. People have money and they spend it where they live if possible.
Sosua's only possible long term salvation, is to attract and keep retirees. The process of getting residency, the poor infrastructure, the lack of facilities and amenities that retirees are looking for and demand may be outside Sosua's ability to change but some politico has to open their eyes and try. Residents and an expat resident friendly reputation is probably the last hope for a sustainable town.
Corruption plays a part, apathy plays a part, opportunism plays a part, and a whole host of other hurdles as well. If the Mayor informs Santo Domingo that the corrupt PN Colonel in Sosua has to go, chances are he'll be reassigned. Until Sosua makes a plan and stands up for itself, it will continue to get brushed aside and dismissed at every opportunity. Until there is running water available everywhere, everything else is a bandaid on a sucking chest wound. The patient is going to die.
Oh my, has this thread been busy. I have a few things I would like to add but unfortunately very little time.
Suffice to say, apart from the incessant speculation as to Sos?a's future, there are a few inaccurate representations being posted regarding the closing of certain businesses, the "new" hours of operation and certain laws.
But since this seems to be somehow addressed to me . . .
Obviously they didn't do good yesterday, they were closed. What is your point?
Suffice to say, apart from the incessant speculation as to Sos?a's future, there are a few inaccurate representations being posted regarding the closing of certain businesses, the "new" hours of operation and certain laws.
But since this seems to be somehow addressed to me . . .
Obviously they didn't do good yesterday, they were closed. What is your point?
you wrote that you spoke to some snowbirds, are those the things they are complaining about? I know a few, or have talked to them (as they frequent the same locations as I do) but from what I have seen most snowbirds / retirees here are 'laid back' and don't have the highest requirements.
- They don't need fancy clothes stores (what for, you don't need to dress up to impress woman),
- Playero and Pola are both not great but no deal breakers
- Restaurants are ok, you can go out and eat well, they don't look fancy but given how most snowbirds dress that is a plus
- Several regular spots to meet up (without being hustled by locals)
- (I) have electricity and water 24/7 and casa is affordable.
So all in all, it's not perfect, but no real deal breakers and I think given how busy all the apartments are in winter, it can't be that bad.
The most worrying thing currently is by far my own personal safety.
- the murders I have read here in the last half year/year really make me a bit nervous
especially the one at the malecon (although PP is a completely different ball game)
- traffic is nothing else than playing roulette with your life (and I exclusively ride my motorbike and bicycle)
Friend of mine tried to get the residency, they lost his application and told him to apply again. Only reason why he wants it is for the validity of the drivers license.
i agree with you, one hundred percent. i fail to understand why some folks don?t just stay where they come from.