What would happen to DR tourism when Cuba really opens?

Status
Not open for further replies.
O

Olvidado

New member
Jun 19, 2012
128
0
0
One of my boys just came home after 10 days in Cuba. He is married to a Cuban citizen and went to visit old family, and to check about the possibility of purchasing land there. She said that she can purchase land there now. Cuba, he said, is as beautiful or even more than DR. What do you think would happens to tourism in DR when tourism really opens in Cuba? Are our officials considering that possibility?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
A

Amu

Member
Oct 4, 2010
174
4
18
Punta Cana is well established right now and keeps growing every year making the D.R the 6th most visited country in America, just Behind USA/Mexico/Canada/Argentina/Brazil...so it'll be kind of hard for Cuba to keep up.
 
J

J.Baby

New member
Dec 23, 2012
104
0
0
The food in Cuba is not as good here, they can't get shipments in from the US, which all expats and tourists want ( if they are living there and not at an AI, even at the AI, the food is okay at best because of the trade embargos with the states. And they are communist, so more likely to expropriate your land. Yes you can buy land there, but you will have to prove that you have enough money to subsist on well, and not be a burden ever. I think I read there was a minimum bank balance, I cannot remember the number but it was not a small number, at least five digits.

It is better here, unless you are stinkin rich and like rice and beans and don't wish to eat red meat too often. That beef is for the tourists in the AI's, it isn't easy to purchase.

Citations, had a cuban boyfriend, many cuban friends, many trips to AI's and some reading of general news stories
 
W

Wigan

New member
Jun 22, 2011
6
0
0
I think the unspoken assumption here is that Cuba will only really open up when the embargo is lifted.. Personally I believe that will happen soon after both Castros are not in the picture. The country will probably remain "socialist" and ruled by the younger generation of bureaucrats for a long time but US may change its stance. And if and when that happens.. interesting times indeed! I think DR will loose the race for tourist dollars.. both islands attract ca 3 mln tourists a year nowadays, and that's with Cuban embargo in place.
 
B

bluemoonnyc

New member
Oct 4, 2007
362
10
0
cuba is open to canadians and europeans now and they are still flocking to DR, I seriously doubt that a 30 minute shorter plane ride for americans will become a big lure in a place that is unknown,
 
P

PeterInBrat

Gold
May 29, 2006
10,265
200
0
I don't think the DR has much to worry about from Cuba. Those AIs don't build themselves and Cuba will need foreign investors to build new, mostly with imported materials that will be subject to taxes. It may be cheap now, but it won't be once AIs are built to the same specs as they are in the rest of the region with the same quality food. I don't see Cuba as being much of a bargain. The AIs own property across the Caribbean, and they will have very little interest in lower a hotel price in Cuba to steal business from the DR or Cancun.
 
T

the gorgon

Platinum
Sep 16, 2010
33,997
83
0
bluemoonnyc said:
cuba is open to canadians and europeans now and they are still flocking to DR, I seriously doubt that a 30 minute shorter plane ride for americans will become a big lure in a place that is unknown,
Click to expand...

it is exactly because the place is unknown that it will attract tourists. there are two different types of tourists. there are the adventurer types, who want to see new things, and the early phase of a destination development. they are the first to show up when a new destination begins to gain momentum. they are usually the more educated, and the more affluent. they are the group known as allocentrics. they are the ones who would be going to Cuba, in the beginning. when the destination becomes established, then the second types start flocking in. they are the ones who do not have a sense and spirit of adventure, but live in the tourist bubble. they are the A1 types, the ones who want to go on vacation, yet be at home at the same time. these are the types that are known as the psychocentrics. you know them well; they want to go to some faraway island in the Pacific, yet they are disturbed by the fact that when they get there, there are no shopping malls, and that people do not speak english, and they cannot get 488 different satellite channels on tv, so they can watch Seinfeld re-runs. those are the guys who go to Punta Cana, because it is well established, and everybody they know has been there. those are not the types who will go to Cuba. those are the ones that killed POP.
 
S

Salsafan

Bronze
Aug 17, 2011
924
15
38
I was many times all over Cuba. For me DR as a land is much more beautiful. Havanna is more beautiful than Santo Domingo, but the Malecon is during the night like a cemetery compared to Malecon in SD and the streets are dead. Generally you meet nights only tourists and professional persons, the normal people can't afford to go to restaurants for dancing, there are no colmado's eather.
Because of the system the cuban people don't know/care what service is but they do know very well how to cheat you.For me the main attraction there ist the musik, the cuban girls are also hot.
Maybe that all changes after the embargo is over but it takes time.
I wouldn't buy there anything, you never know if sometime the former owner comes from Miami and requests his property.
So, I don't think DR has anything to fear.
 
T

the gorgon

Platinum
Sep 16, 2010
33,997
83
0
Salsafan said:
I was many times all over Cuba. For me DR as a land is much more beautiful. Havanna is more beautiful than Santo Domingo, but the Malecon is during the night like a cemetery compared to Malecon in SD and the streets are dead. Generally you meet nights only tourists and professional persons, the normal people can't afford to go to restaurants for dancing, there are no colmado's eather.
Because of the system the cuban people don't know/care what service is but they do know very well how to cheat you.For me the main attraction there ist the musik, the cuban girls are also hot.
Maybe that all changes after the embargo is over but it takes time.
I wouldn't buy there anything, you never know if sometime the former owner comes from Miami and requests his property.
So, I don't think DR has anything to fear.
Click to expand...

so are you suggesting that the DR is great on customer service, nobody cheats you, and the land title issue is squeaky clean? maybe the reason why the malecon in Cuba is relatively deserted is because the hordes coming from the USA have not gotten there yet.
 
P

PeterInBrat

Gold
May 29, 2006
10,265
200
0
The repatriation issue is a very real possibility. I lived in Estonia and there were people who left post WWII for Canada that were claiming property they had left behind that had been bought and sold numerous times. The local folk didn't have much respect for the people who had moved abroad, because they had endured 40 years of Soviet occupation while the returnees had it good in Canada and elsewhere. It was esp sticky with inheritance issues.
 
L

LTSteve

Gold
Jul 9, 2010
5,449
23
38
Cuba being closed to Americans has definitely helped the DR tourism effort. It would have some effect on Punta Cana and the all inclusives. Many of the hotels in Cuba are old and it would take some time to catch up to the quality and quantity in the DR. It also depends on the flights available to Havana. I am not sure any of this will happen while either Castro brother is alive. They are both very hard headed and stubborn as mules.

LTSTeve
 
P

pollogringo

Gold
Dec 26, 2011
8,071
0
0
I am not sure any of this will happen while either Castro brother is alive. They are both very hard headed and stubborn as mules.
Click to expand...

They would love the dollars. The pressure to maintain the embargo is from the politically-important Cuban community in Florida.
 
T

the gorgon

Platinum
Sep 16, 2010
33,997
83
0
bob saunders said:
NO, it is the communist government of the Castros that is blocking normal relations with the USA.
Click to expand...


well, there you have it from Professor Saunders. the definitive political statement on US-Cuba relations. no point in any further analysis. the oracle hath spoken.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom