finally, a guy who pulls no punches. what is with this reference to Sosua restaurants, as if we were talking about some snazzy bistros in Paris? i read some postings on DR1 about some wonderful restaurant on PC, and went there for breakfast. i wanted bacon and eggs, coffee, and oj. i was the only one there, and it took them 30 minutes to serve me, plus another 10 minutes to get the coffee. in any self respecting diner in Red Bank, NJ, i would have been in and out before this dump fried my eggs to a crisp.
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Arrivals Down At POP During First 3 Months Of 2014
finally, a guy who pulls no punches. what is with this reference to Sosua restaurants, as if we were talking about some snazzy bistros in Paris? i read some postings on DR1 about some wonderful restaurant on PC, and went there for breakfast. i wanted bacon and eggs, coffee, and oj. i was the only one there, and it took them 30 minutes to serve me, plus another 10 minutes to get the coffee. in any self respecting diner in Red Bank, NJ, i would have been in and out before this dump fried my eggs to a crisp.
The North coast has been in decline for atleast 7 years . The all inclusives were never maintained as most owned by Dominicans and no money was reinvested ... Tour operators noticed, had complaints and simply move most tourist to PUNTA CANA where they don't get complaints , they have people happy to be in nice maintained hotels and friendly safe beaches .... The north coast had its days twenty odd years back ... Cabarete still is a sweet place if u like a nice bar scene on the beach .. Relatively safe , and spend a few hours in Sosua occasionaly, for contrast ....
Sosua is a centrally located budget destination in the North Coast tourism region, that offers a more diversified and authentic experience to adventure and cultural tourists than AI destinations like Punta Cana. It is a destination for tourist that would rather pay only 40-100$ per night and freely explore life on the ground in DR. A short drive can yield many adventure activities associated with the mountains, rivers, beaches, and ocean exploration. It is a short drive from Cabarete, POP airport, Puerto Plata, and Santiago. It is somewhat unique for a budget destination to have access to such a large diversity of surrounding locales in which to eat, party, shop, explore, and learn. This small region of the country has both luxury and budget tourism businesses, all levels of socioeconomic living for Dominican society as well as for expats, mountain living, coastal living, rural living, small town living, and big city living. I also believe that the large and diverse expat community living on the North Coast contribute to making it a unique destination. If marketed accordingly and developed as such, Sosua could become an internationally recognized party destination like Acapulco, Las Vegas, Ibiza, Rio, Amsterdam, Cancun, Miami, Phuket, etc; obviously on a much smaller scale due to market size and with a unique Caribbean flair. But the North Coast already has the foundation in place if it chose to create a premier Caribbean party destination. Party goers don't demand high luxury, or an excluded extreme security environment, like the AI family crowd do, because they crave adventure and exploration. I believe that marketing the North Coast beach towns as an adventure and entertainment destination with authentic cultural exposure, would give it the best chance to thrive as a one of a kind Caribbean experience.
I once attended a discussion about tourism in the DR. Some of the topics discussed were the history of tourism, its decline on the North Coast, and its rise in Punta Cana.
Funny that this was like 10 years ago, and Playa Dorada was already known as a place on decline.
Some of the reasons given for this were crappy services and not enough investment to keep up and update the infrastructure.
The areas were also considered to cater different types of tourists.Maybe not the case today, but back then the typical north coast tourist was described as the German or Dutch who doesn't have much money and wants a beach, a cheap all inclusive and free booze, while the typical Punta Cana tourist was as more demanding, the American or the British who wants a better service and is willing to spend more.
Funny that this was like 10 years ago, and Playa Dorada was already known as a place on decline.
Some of the reasons given for this were crappy services and not enough investment to keep up and update the infrastructure.
The areas were also considered to cater different types of tourists.Maybe not the case today, but back then the typical north coast tourist was described as the German or Dutch who doesn't have much money and wants a beach, a cheap all inclusive and free booze, while the typical Punta Cana tourist was as more demanding, the American or the British who wants a better service and is willing to spend more.
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I don't think that POP and PUJ are chasing the same customer.
Is PUJ not more family oriented?
As for the tour operators, just check out the Liberty travel ads .... they point the way for the tour traffic
or Apple Vacations...
Is PUJ not more family oriented?
As for the tour operators, just check out the Liberty travel ads .... they point the way for the tour traffic
or Apple Vacations...
That's all very nice, but you still need to transport the party crowd to a destination at a reasonable price. How do you plan to solve that?
Playa Dorada survived on the Punta Cana overspill for many years.
As Punta Cana evolved and was able to meet demand, the Playa Dorada traffic disappeared.
Playa Dorada was built in a mad rush by amateurs who were hurrying to get into the tourism game. many other caribbean islands had established tourist industries since the 1950s or earlier, and the DR industry started in earnest in somewhere about 1970. they came in with a mad rush to catch up with, and to surpass, old stalwarts like Jamaica, The Bahamas, and Bermuda. for these local guys, it was a numbers game: try to get as many heads on beds as was numerically possible. the rate of growth exceeded carrying capacity, and the result was overcrowding, and all the ills that accompany that condition. PC learnt from the guinea pig mistakes of the north coast, and the focus shifted to that area, leaving the NC dead in the water. it is the old tourism life cycle idea, expounded by Butler. the NC is in a state of terminal decline, and will need to be reinvented, not resuscitated. it is no longer on the tourism radar, even though Playa Dorada is the biggest all-inclusive complex on earth.
if Liberty and Apple aren't promoting the DR, then it may not be on the radar....
that was my point....
those two are indicative of current trends - IMO
here is how i see it. if i am in the mood to bag an antelope or a wildebeest, i am off to somewhere in Africa. if i want to see religious artifacts, it is the Middle East. for plain , unadulterated spectacle of humanity...Times Square. if i am a sporting man, then i am off to Vegas, or Monte Carlo. i cannot replicate those destinations anywhere else.
what does Sosua have that i cannot find in most other caribbean islands?
This is exactly the reason. I would bet that arrivals are up in Santiago. I fly in there on my way to Sosua due to the much(sometimes $200) cheaper flights!
This is just a very small part of the overall reason.
Look at earlier posts regarding tour operators.