Interesting article about the DR published in CNN

Great article, well spotted!!!!!!

bus schedule is a problem

but getting tourists to leave the AI for an overnight is a tough sell, really. They have a room already paid for... what has to happen is for some of the hotel chains like the Melia to start package tours with 5 days on the beach, and two in town or something like that... Now THAT would really help the tourism.

Article is getting attention

This morning the article is in the top 10 articles that readers on CNN are emailing. Maybe people are thinking 'oh, I guess we should have spent a day seeing one of the oldest settlements in the Americas instead of paying $80/each to ride around on that converted Daihatsu..." :cheeky:

But I agree with mountainannie, it's a tough sell. Sure, the buses are nice, but who's gonna just hop a bus and book their own hotel accommodations in SD? People who speak Spanish and are more adventurous, and thus not as inclined to book an AI in the first place.

If it were really that easy, people might as well fly in to SD to see the capital and then take the bus down to see the true natural beauty of the southwest

Thats a very nice article for a commercial but unrealistic. Why would anybody opt for AI to go wandering? Unless the colonial zone is packaged in the plan as a visit it would be traumatic to take a tiring trip just to see a few ruins. As for the local feeling you get a better feel in small beach towns where your AI is located. The children you see at Parque Colon are the picpockets disguised as shoeshine boys who are usually picked up by Politur to avoid harassing tourists. Calle el Conde is not for the initiated, with more street hustlers and buscones than you can handle. Are you going to dish out more for the cost of meals and fare while your AI is fully paid? There are many outdoor fun packages offered by hotels than visiting tha CZ. Unless you know what you're doing Old Santo Domingo is a boring experience.

"Unless you know what you're doing Old Santo Domingo is a boring experience." Why? - I think there are sufficient visitors out there who would want to visit it - getting AI tourists out of their pre-paid hotels would be difficult though.