Importing a boat for tourism

the 1 year permit you mentioned in your first post which does not make it necessary to change flagg/pay import tax is the so named 'periso de navegabilidad recreacional", that means you are allowed to use your vessel in dominican waters for 1 year for recreational purposes, that permission clearly excludes the use in tourism. to use a vessel/any kind of vehicle, may it be on the water or on land or in the air, in turism you need the "permiso de Turismo" to do so. one of the requirements to get a permiso de turismo is that the boat has a dominican matricula(dominican flagged, and for that the import tax has to be deposited). at least that been fact/law last spring when we brought in the 38ft Bertram named "Trinity" from Golden Beach Florida. the import taxes are very flexibel negociable. in charge of such is the secretary of customs. would be a nice surprise if such would change towards the above described, but i don't believe that such will ever happen. we would get flooded with foreign boats who do not need to pay any tax here in the country. no local would ever again pay a import tax on a newly purchased boat neither, just by that in puerto rico or florida where they are MUCH cheaper than here and operate with the US or PR flagg paying just the lousy small yearly fee for the recreational permission.
all accurate infos about any permission papers and requirements for water based vehicles can be asked at the Marina's office at the headquarter at the "Base Naval 27 de Febrero" in santo domingo, it is that same office that issues the recreational and the commercial navegabilidad papers. the Lady in charge their speaks a perfect english and is very helpful.
hope that helps
Mike

Know that the Minister of Tourism is always open to
"gifts" to allow things to go smoothly...at least this was his policy when he was the Minister of Industry and Commerce...and I know who!!!

HB

Cariboo said:

If you are a dominican citizen, and setup your tourism business first, then drive the boat here, (not have it shipped in a container), you can pay $7,500 to obtain permission to use the boat for one year for commerical purposes. Then the second year, you wil have to pay a much smaller tax, and so on and so on.

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You better try to find someone who all ready has a tourism business registered and deal with this person to include your boat in his company. This way you should be a subcontractor of this tour operator and start doing your own business at the same time. Tourism office in the DR has so many requirements that will be impossible for you to get your boat stamped like tourism transportation.

JJ

that's the right idea Bachata and very often done. but still the same for the flagging, a boat with a foreign flagg can not be included in any turism paper.
to get a turism paper on the water (it is a watersports turism permit, there is no special/specific/separate fishing permit) a legally registered and tax paying company needs a minimum of 3 waterbased vessels to get approved for the permit/turim paper, so if somebody want's to start a waaterbased business with just one single boat that person anyways needs to join a partnership with a company which already has the paper to get that single boat included.
but if somebody plans to start a waterbased business here on the Isle i would assume that this person already been here for a longer while to stick around with the guys who run such businesses to check out what is possible and what not, what is needed, how things are handled over here. businesses running waterbased activities are running by specific "rules", not only written laws. to just bring a boat and pay for a permit to start any kind of activity on the water i bet would a 100% fail very soon. i see such happen many times every year since 14 years. before even thinking about purchasing that boat in the US that person should get experienced with the behaviors/unwritten rules/legal requirements and the way all the national waters are shared/devided for specific excursions. in case of specialty excursions on the water such like i.e. Parasailing the number of boats each area is limited, permits nearly impossible to get as long as you don't plan to get that permit for an abandonded area.
and i repeat what i wrote in a prior post:
if you just want to bring your boat for your private pleasure/privately used, then only the recreational navegation paper is needed, that costs actually for a boat registered for up to 12 passengers 12.000 pesos per year(350.-US$) and no flagging needed, no import tax needs to be paid. the boat just has to provide the original boat papers and a minimum insurance for recreational use.
good luck
Mike

exactly right,
they all count as boats, so you would have 3 of 'em.
we started an additrional permission(we run the boats for several reasons not all under one company's name/permission) 18 months back with 1 sportfishing yacht and 2 yamaha 23ft speedboats, the 3 together been fine for the permission, even that they do not really work together, they are not even based at the same port, but of course in the same area(punta cana). the speedboats operate for snorkel tours and banana boat rides in el cortecito and the yacht is at the sportfishing club in cabeza de toro for deep sea fishing. different ownership but we did the permission together under one company's name.
Mike

Useless regulation costs to much

The DR has so many bull**** rules and laws that costs business a fortune, protect the elite and manufacture poverty. The prices paid in PR are closer to the real fair market value of these boats. What happens in the DR is that the costs is so high that entry into the market place is limited and vessels that should be scraped are carrying people. Look at the bus service in SD. Rather than an open game one must pay a fee to someone to operate a bus on a public street. Total bull****! The costs of having everyone in his pocket means that the operator drive buses that should not be on the road putting the public at risk. All of this so that some rich candyass can have money without working.

If this country is going to grow the birdsnest on the ground for the elite have to be done away with. This country does not have long. Cuba will open soon and the DR method no law, cheating visators, and your basic corruption will mean a fast exit out of here.

Bearcat

MikeFisher said:

the 1 year permit you mentioned in your first post which does not make it necessary to change flagg/pay import tax is the so named 'periso de navegabilidad recreacional", that means you are allowed to use your vessel in dominican waters for 1 year for recreational purposes, that permission clearly excludes the use in tourism. to use a vessel/any kind of vehicle, may it be on the water or on land or in the air, in turism you need the "permiso de Turismo" to do so. one of the requirements to get a permiso de turismo is that the boat has a dominican matricula(dominican flagged, and for that the import tax has to be deposited). at least that been fact/law last spring when we brought in the 38ft Bertram named "Trinity" from Golden Beach Florida. the import taxes are very flexibel negociable. in charge of such is the secretary of customs. would be a nice surprise if such would change towards the above described, but i don't believe that such will ever happen. we would get flooded with foreign boats who do not need to pay any tax here in the country. no local would ever again pay a import tax on a newly purchased boat neither, just by that in puerto rico or florida where they are MUCH cheaper than here and operate with the US or PR flagg paying just the lousy small yearly fee for the recreational permission.
all accurate infos about any permission papers and requirements for water based vehicles can be asked at the Marina's office at the headquarter at the "Base Naval 27 de Febrero" in santo domingo, it is that same office that issues the recreational and the commercial navegabilidad papers. the Lady in charge their speaks a perfect english and is very helpful.
hope that helps
Mike

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that's why ,when living in the DR you have to keep on foot in and the other one out ,and be ready to bail out any time very quick.Unless the governement change his policy to attrack forners and business ; the DR can not compete with other countries(execpt Haiti).I do believe that the DR has seen it's Pick and have no other way to go than down(sadly).The country need it's Obama to led the way?

???
while i by far do not agree with every rule or law or typical behavior here on the Isle, i don't neither with all such in other countries.
but what been the meaning/sense of those 2 rants above?
do they answer any prior asked question?
i doubt.
the DR is like it is,
those rules or behaviors aso are not new,
so everybody coming over here knew about that stuff.
if a country and it's las/rules/behaviors would not suit me and my needs in any way, why to go there?, just to rant about it?
come on, let's stay on the topic and answer the asked questions.
happy Duarte Holiday
Mike

I'm actively researching the opportunity to open a business in the DR, first with Punta Cana. The business in the area of ATV rentals to start. While I know this thread is about the transfer and operation of boats for tourism, can anyone guide me or refer me to someone who has started a business in the tourism market in the DR, whom can help answer any questions and/or refer me to any local business people who may have an interest in a partner ship of subcontracting.
I've launched businesses in Canada, and now considering the DR and starting small to build up a fleet.

Your advice for on how to start up a business in the DR is appreciated, or alternatively, referrals to align a business with a business already operating in the DR.
Thanks

kael_21@hotmail.com (Mike)

welcome to the bord Kael,
the first point when planning a business start in a foreign country would be to go there and check the on site situation and posibilities for that specific kind of business right there.
i.e. in case of the above mentioned ATV's, we have a bunch of companies in the PC area doing such tours since over a decade, so in case of a joint venture you need to talk to them directly to see if somebody would be interested in a partnership.
and of course you should take your time to find out personally how such businesses work in general and specially in the turism sector.
Mike

yes, the ATV rentals cover the PC area well, 4 companies run their tour in the Macao area, 3 or 4 companies in bavaro, 1 in cabeza de toro and 1 on the punta cana side, all of them include in their rates the transfer from any hotel in the area, they run since many years, so to open an additional business to compete with them is nearly impossible, you would need to offer the touroperators much lower rates than they get now to convince them to sell with you and abandon their actual outfitter. and those actual outfits pay 30-up to 50% of sales commisions, to start such should be very careful thought about and calculated, it is a big investment with a high risk to stay empty.
the above asked boatbuilder is named Helmut, German guys working there, sorry, at the moment i do not have their phone number at hand, been there 3 weeks ago, reliable old company. when you drive from santo domingo the direction towards la romana it is on your right side, you can't miss that.
Mike

Cariboo said:

Mike, i truly appreciate your input and cannot thank you enough. You are a tremendous help to everyone on here. I am defineately going to come down to punta cana in the near future and go fishing on one of your boats. I know you can find my first marlin to land!!!! When we were talkiing with the tourism official about importing the boat, we stated many times that our purposes were for tourism, why they gave us rules for recreation is beyond me. As they are the tourism office, why would be inquiring about a recreational boat to the tourism office. Anyway, another lesson that beware of what officials tell you, it is often not reality.
We currently own two other boats that will be used for the business, a water taxi that will be used to transport customers from their hotels, and a small work boat that will be used as a both a water taxi and a supply boat for the main passenger boat.

Will the water taxi and work boat count as two boats, so when we obtain the main passenger boat we will have three boats in operation?

--Cariboo

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probably because this official will profit (a portion of the fee, or he will hit you up for money to get some other 'paper' that you all of a sudden need) from it being a 'recreational' boat, where he does not benefit if its a 'tourism' boat.

personal motives are often much more important than the truth, especially when it comes to Dominican government officials doing business with gringos.

no guys,
here you are wrong.
the import of a boat is always a simple recreational matter, you can not get any turism paper for a boat unless it been prior to that request officially imported, means received it's dominican boat papers, named 'Matricula'.
the turism office has absolutely nothing to do with the import, such is the job of customs where you have to declare your import.
during that process the boats receive their dominican papers/matricula and with those in hands and the prior to that done company's papers(you have to set up a dominican company first of course before you request the turism permit to operate as a business in turism), the required insurance papers aso you go to the turism office to request the turism permit for your planned operations.
the recreational paper you talked about is named 'permiso de navegabilidad' and has to be done for the boat together with the matricula, that's why that official talked about that paper. it is not more than a very small unimportant tax and a piece of paper you receive throu that. every boat needs that paper. compared to road vehicles the boat's matricula has the same function than a car's matricula(plate, both need to be renewed every year, boats always renew july 1st), the 'certificado de navegabilidad' is what on cars is the 'revista', also renewed once a year, in case of boats always renewed yearly together with the matricula, it is one procedure for both, you never receive one without the other.
Mike

Cariboo said:

I am looking into importing a small passenger boat into the D.R. from another Caribbean island. All the posts on this subject mention the requirement you change the flag on the boat to the Dominican Republic and pay the necessary import tax of approximately 42.%. Then obtain the necessary tourism permits.

I have recently spoken to two marine guerrera officals and a tourism official separately, and was stold the following by all three:

If you are a dominican citizen, and setup your tourism business first, then drive the boat here, (not have it shipped in a container), you can pay $7,500 to obtain permission to use the boat for one year for commerical purposes. Then the second year, you wil have to pay a much smaller tax, and so on and so on.

Does anyone know this to be true?

For some boats, this is obviously a much cheaper route than changing flags and paying a 42% import tax based on the value that the D.R. govt. assigns to the boat.
I am surprised that this may be an option as it would result in a loss of revenue for the government, but I was told it is to promote tourism here. Thanks in advance for your input. --Cariboo

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bringing the boat to Dominican republic the tax is very high
the better thing to do is to buy a boat there already with the Dominican flag if you want to use the boat for tours you have to have a company in D.R. latter go the Ministerio del Estado de Turismo in Santo Domingo and apply for the permits

and basically, when planning a new business on the water, before you purchase anything first go to the turism office and check if there are still permits available for your specifically planned activity in the specific area.
activities like parasailing/fishing boats etc are at some areas restricted to specific numbers, so do not buy such boat before you know for sure you will be given a permit for your specific area anyways.
Mike