Lets Help Out Lorenzo Sancassani with Tourism

[LindseyKaufman]

I think they should...


3. This step would take more time but I would really focus on making the North Coast as bilingual as possible. Teach it in the schools, start programs to get adults in English language courses, etc. Then I would make "zona franca" type of areas for call centers with huge tax incentives. Especially for the American market if you can start by getting the Spanish speaking calls and then try to get more English call centers.

Apparently you don't know that they ARE teaching English in the public schools. Now I cannot speak for all public schools, but on the North Coast, English is taught.

I am no expert. I have lived here 10 years. Have done many things. Learned much from my many mistakes. One thing I did learn..... all my knowledge, education and experience cannot accomplish anything unless I respect the Dominican culture and work through THEIR channels and means. Without them, I am no more than another gringa with a foundation and money from abroad to be sucked up for a cause that they believe is not needed, nor wanted. It is money to be thrown to the wind. I must believe the same to be true for the tourism sector.

~ Lindsey

 

[Rustxko]

I don't think that's why all those AIs down in Punta Cana are full of tourists. I am a tourist. I've stayed at Punta Cana AI. I don't think it's because the compounds are full of genuine Dominican culture and all the tourists inside them know how to navigate it like a local.

Saying that learning English will help if they want to improve tourism is not an attack on culture. It's practical from a business standpoint. You have to cater to your clientele. It's geography. Areas where there will be large concentrations of tourists, a majority will probably be American. Americans as we all know most likely will only speak English. It doesn't make either group dumb. If anything they're equal in that they predominately only speak their native language. It's not practical to expect a tourist who may spend 1-2 weeks a year on vacation to learn the language especially when you consider that a lot of the other Caribbean locations don't require Spanish such as Jamaica, Belize, Bahamas, virgin islands, etc. I know some would say "why should they have to change for the tourist?". The reason is because they're trying to get the tourists to come and not the other way around.

It reminds of something that I said here before. I get a mixed feeling on whether people in Sosua really want mass tourism. Because you can't really have it without sacrificing some culture. The cultural tourist is a very small group. The majority of tourists are AI types.

It makes me wonder what kind of tourists does Sosua really want. Single male or groups of males would be viewed as sex tourists. Some single females or groups of females as well. Young couples would be good and families would be welcome, but they most likely wouldn't speak Spanish or understand Dominican culture, so I'm not sure about them either. I've seriously wondered. Is the objective really to turn the north coast in a area for domestic tourism and turn the southeast coast into the area for international tourist?

 

[chic]

when did a.a. stop flying jfk to to p.plata? and anyone know why? used to have a choice i think..now you have to go thru san juan...

 

[windeguy]

The AI's in PC are full because they are newer and the travel agencies are pushing people there. The sales and marketing push PC. The AI's on the north coast were allowed to run down and are not being pushed by travel agencies.

 

[windeguy]

when did a.a. stop flying jfk to to p.plata? and anyone know why? used to have a choice i think..now you have to go thru san juan...

AA had a codeshare agreement with JetBlue. And I suppose demand dried up for the JFK POP route and it was felt by AA not worth to continue it. The higher prices charged to POP did not help.

 

[cobraboy]

The AI's in PC are full because they are newer and the travel agencies are pushing people there. The sales and marketing push PC. The AI's on the north coast were allowed to run down and are not being pushed by travel agencies.

Travel agencies push whatever is the easiest, hottest, highest commission sales.

One way to boost NC travel (assuming cleaning things up) is offering higher commissions, with an attendant tax credit-not deduction-for paying them.

 

[Rustxko]

Travel agencies and newer new facilities can't overcome everything. If those AI compounds had charaterisitics of other parts of DR that I hear you guys talk about such as intermittent electiricity and water, rampant crime and prostitution, security and police corruption, not to mention a shortage of english speakers, then the tourists wouldn't be there. I don't care how new the facilities.

A lot of tourists don't want to experience anything real. They want to be in a bubble where they get the beautiful beach and not have to deal with anything too different. Most tourists couldn't care less about the culture or every day life. Sure, they may take a excursion to a famous monument to take pictures, but they don't want to experience day to day life. Most of the time, they don't even know what the monument is about. Look at Cinco de Mayo for American cultural ignorance. They celebrate it every year, and a lot of them think it is Mexican Independence Day, and yeah, they're cool with dominicans at the resort as long as they are unarmed, speak english, and are wearing some type of uniform. It's why Punta Cana works. The bubbles down there are completely insulated from the country, and they are full of employees that speak english.

 

[windeguy]

American travelers do indeed want a bubble. They don't care the least about the real DR. The vast majority of working Americans have 2 weeks in a year to go on vacation and don't want to worry about anything and could care less about the "real DR." PC is their cruise ship with a beach that does not go anywhere.

 

[Rustxko]

Exactly my point. There is a lot of pointing to the airfare prices, travel agencies pushing PC, older facilities, excursions, etc. All of those things affect prices. If you created cheaper older bubbles, you'd get cheaper americans to fill them as long as they functioned like things where they are from and people spoke english. I've been asked before by a tourist why AIs don't just import american college students to run things at the hotels because they'd do a better job than the locals which is comical, but it's an view into the mindset. I don't think you can maintain the local culture with mass tourism. Most of them just don't care.

There are only so many non AI/cruise ship tourists. The sex tourists will be gone which will leave the eco, adventure, sports, and cultural tourists. Those others are not the largest groups, and I'd bet that those groups of tourists are already going to the north coast because they tend not to be as skittish around locals as the AI/cruise types, so where is the increase in tourism going to come from.

 

[hammerdown]

The AI's have English speaking people. If you work front desk, restaurant, bar, entertainment it is a prerequisite to speak another language and most Dominicans speak passable English. Go to most shops in tourist areas and most speak English, as with the restaurants,.........nothing to do with English speaking hosts......

I guess if you hang out on the street trying to pick up something, well, most of those types of people don't have a very good grasp of English........but as far as resorts......that ain't the problem

 

[DonDR]

Caribbean less competitive due to increasing aviation taxes IATA warns : Caribbean360

this will not help Lorenzo with Tourizm