How does tourism affect the DR?

[Susanne]

Does anyone have an idea of how to get in contact with the DR tourist board or Ministry of Tourism (if such a ministry exists). I?d love a link to a web site if they have one. Otherwise an adress or a phone number would do just fine.

I'm a Danish journalist and I will be doing a series of articles about tourism in the DR in November or December. As far as I can see tourism is developing rapidly in the DR. Is there any local organisations or others that are opposed to this? And is everyone generally agreed on how this development should take place? Does the tourism industry create more wealth for everyone or does it make a few people very well off? And what about environmental issues?

Answers and ideas would be appreciated. And thanks for this web page - it is a wellspring of information.

Regards, Susanne Sayers

 

[Rafael Lopez]

Try this page www. dominicana.com.do The address for Secretaria de Turismo is: ave Mexico Santo Domingo, DN. Republica Dominicana. tel (809)221-4660.fax# (809)682-3806

 

[Bux]

We went for the last 9 years to Sosua, North DR., and we saw tourism grow, but the benefit is not for the locals, but only for a happy few. Most of the businesses are owned by foreigners and more and more with an all-inclusive formula. Local bars and restaurants don't benefit at all. Rob

 

[arcoiris]

I saw a resort hotel in the capital, where a whole bunch of white people were sipping drinks on a patio, and down below was a black man with a pick-ax working on digging up the sidewalk for some project. He had bare feet and the weather was about 95 F. I took a picture. It does sseem like all over the world where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. A lady told me last week she went to Puerto Plata to a resort hotel, and they were not allowed to leave the grounds to travel about in the country, but while on a bus they could see the locals in and about their shacks. She was shocked and saddened, and felt a little guilty to be herself in such a contrastingly luxurious condition.

 

[Loren]

There are positives and negatives. I have seen things like what you described, but I have had other positive experiences. The first time I went to an all inclusive resort it was at the invitation of a Dominican friend of mine who is a travel agent. She is by no means rich; for those of you who know the capital, she lives in Villa Francisca. She was organizing a weekend excursion to Occidental Esplanada, an all inclusive in Sosua. My fianc? and I went, and I was the only foreigner on the charter bus. When I got to the resort, there appeared to be at least 40% Dominicans. There were a lot of Germans, but as far as I can tell, I was the only American at the resort.

When I went to Bavaro Palace, My fianc? who had already been there with her family, commented that there seemed to be less Dominican Guests than normal. I speculated that perhaps that was because it was Monday and I bet that she went before on the weekend, which is when you would expect the citizens who can afford it to go. If you go to trendy upscale destinations in the capital you will see lots of locals enjoying the same things as the foreigners.

At the Tourist areas such as Punta Cana and Sosua, there is not as a diverse economy as you have in the Capital and other parts of the country; I speculate that is why you would see more of a stark contrast between foreigners and locals. There are Dominicans in my Fianc?'s family who easily make twice as much as me. I think Tourism is wonderful for the Dominican Republic, as it is for Orlando, the Bahamas, Aruba and most other places. It provides jobs and opportunities for residents they would not otherwise have. Would you rather manage some part of a hotel operation or work in a nickel mine?

My family is originally from the Bahamas, which has a very high standard of living due to tourism. My cousin runs a small hotel there. Tourists show up and leave money there. For a country, tourism is the closest thing to free money! People show up and leave money. Think of how much you have spent in the DR and what you have left with. Sure a lot of that money goes to foreign investors, which is great. But it also pays salaries, tips and taxes to the government. There are also lots of Dominican investors and entrepreneurs who benefit. If you actually leave the resort and see the real Dominican Republic they benefit even more. I bet those people with the little shops in the Conde and Mercado Modelo rake in the loot, for example.

The poor will always be among us. But create jobs and infrastructure and there will be less poor people over time as education improves and the demand for labor increases. It wont happen overnight.

 

[Jim Hinsch]

From 1993-1997, 53,000 new jobs were generated by tourism in the DR. I have also read that for every hotel room, two jobs are generated.

Perhaps the white people you saw were all Dominicans. There are plenty of rich Dominicans, far richer than you or I.

What's the point of contrasting how people experience life while on a vacation or break vs. their working conditions, or saying there are lots of poor people. Poor is relative. Check out Haiti, then Honduras. Appreciate what somebody down your family chain endured in order for you to not have to. Consider the life of the average man some 100, 1000, and 10,000 years ago.

I don't envy the rich or pity the poor as true wealth is not measured in material posessions, and I'm against the even distribution of material wealth (Communism or Socialism). There always have been rich and poor and there always will be. Do you feel sorry for the Monk who owns nothing? He is happy. As far as fairness, there are far graver injustices in the world than the distribution of wealth.

Tourism has been a wonderful thing for the Dominican Republic. It generates huge amounts of jobs and the resultant consumption brings in huge amounts of duty, much of which is spent on government projects. Rapid growth in Tourism has caused the economy of the Dominican Republic to become one of the fastest growing economies in Latin America. While individual Dominicans might not benefit directly or immediately, they benefit indirectly and long term through money that pours into the government. The Dominican Government is presently involved in unprecedented massive public works programs and building the country's infrastructure toward a bright future for all and tourism is funding a huge chunk of this.

Jim Hinsch JimHinsch@CSI.COM

 

[DEE]

Hurray for a voice of reason, Jim. I suggest again that arcoiris examine personal prejudices. Didn't you see any rich black people. I knew lots of them. Have they gone into hiding, or do you only see what you want to see. As for not leaving the hotel. Rubbish!

 

[scaramooch]

Re: creates alot of starvation wage jobs

Tourism in the DR is akin to your typical strip in "anytown USA" where there is in every corner either a hamburger or pizza joint and all employees work for minimun wage, and most of these worker are on welfare to supplement their icome (no such thing in the DR) So those jobs created in the DR on account of tourism does not (maids, bellhops doorman diswaher etc....)increases the standard of living for those, its just enough wages for them to buy the staple needed to survive.The people that benefits from tourism are foreign investors and the already rich in the DR, as there is no social programs for the poor that derives from all that revenue, sure the government is investing in the infrastruture, they have to, other wise there would be no tourism, What the country need is strong skilled manufacturing jobs for the world market that would benefit the poor Dominican, so he can buy what we here take for granted (like stove, refrigerator etc..) Or a better living wage, but then again that a fight that the employee since the biginning of time have been fighting against their great "oppressor" the EMPLOYER. Unions and skilled labor created the middle class here in the USA. All those exclusive resorts were built with starvation wages for all the workers including the skill ones, yet look at the prices they charge, so you tell me where they better their lot. I have a freind in the Juan Dolio area that is a skilled cement mason, here in this country he would easely make the least $15.00 an hour and thats non union, he worked in some of those big Hotels there recently built, and what he made was just enough to feed his family that still live in a village in sub-standard housing. So the only benefits of tourism is that at least we don,t have to send food over there, they make enough to buy staple and that is all, its a shame that the thing that people generally throw away in this country can,t not be sent there to be distributed among the poor people, it would seem that if the government wanted to better the lot of the poor people they would have a ship in Miami to be loaded with charitable stuff to be distributed to the poor people there. But Noooooo they are not going to do that, after all they are immitading our capitalist tradition, WHAT WOULD THE LOCAL MERCHANTS SAY???