- Thread starter Estrelleta44
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Puerto Plata prostitution and its effect on the local economy
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The people that worry about prostitutes on this forum are the ones that fear the lack of easy access to them might be diminished. To them I say, Don't Panic, that is unlikely to ever happen.
The people in the rest of the world that worry about prostitutes are the DR government, the Dominicans that hate the reputation prostitution gives the country, some companies considering and making major investments like Marriott, and perhaps a woman in BF Idaho whose husband visited the DR for a week and failed to return.
One thing many people seem to miss is what drives tourism in today's market. It has nothing to do with cheap airfare and everything to do with marketing and modeling. In today's tourism markets, corporate names such as Marriott, Four Seasons, Viceroy Resorts, and dozens of other corporate entities market "vacation ownership". The targets of the resort names are well to do people who could care less about the cost of airfare or being able to find a cheap oceanfront room at a hotel. What they offer is diversity for people of means worldwide to enjoy vacations at a number of different resort properties worldwide. If you think that Joe blow from Cocomo and his family spending a week of their lives out of their home country looking for cheap airfare and cheap hotel destinations are what drives the tourism markets, you need to read up on today's tourism markets as these particular clients are cruise ship targets. Ask yourself why people would fly to St. Kitts, Anguilla, Antigua, Aruba, St. Barts on vacation.. Yet the resorts here average better than 70% occupancy yearly and there is absolutely no reason in my mind as to why. Everybody mentions Punta Cana is where everybody goes for their DR vacations.. Where are they staying?? Yet these Big name resorts have no properties on the north coast.. I wonder why?
The fact is that people pay for vacation ownership for the ability to vacation around the world with these big resort names. The more properties they have, the more people they can "sell" to. However, these corporate names are not going to invest the large amounts of capitol required into an area known world wide as a sex tourist / pedophile destination. Yet the DR is trying to get rid of this "stigma". Catch 22.. Get rid of the sex trade, and the town goes broke before it gets better.. Leave it as it is and the problem of the poor press just gets worse.. Darned if they do, and darned if they don't..
I mentioned the term "pedophile destination". I was watching a news report recently from Canada about Canadian sex tourists going there for the under aged girls available.
[video=youtube;p65lqLercz4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p65lqLercz4[/video]
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I'm tired of hearing that Sosua beach is "one of the best in the Caribbean". The ocean around the beach is polluted with human/animal excrement and garbage just like every other square meter of this country. The beach itself is dirty (just dig down into the sand), public infrastructure is gross, the beach itself is relatively small and reminds me of a marketplace in Marrakesh.
I have traveled some around the Caribbean and the DR, my takeaway is that every other beach I have been to is more appealing than Sosua except for Cofresi. Cabarete is orders of magnitude better than Sosua beach even though that too suffers from some of the same issues.
Travel bloggers proclaiming Sosua beach to be one of the best are usually being compensated for their writings and rely on sheer repetition and google rankings for their proclamation to keep circulating.
Some people really like Sosua beach and that is fine. But to proclaim it one of the best, I don't accept that statement and I can't in good conscience repeat it.
I have traveled some around the Caribbean and the DR, my takeaway is that every other beach I have been to is more appealing than Sosua except for Cofresi. Cabarete is orders of magnitude better than Sosua beach even though that too suffers from some of the same issues.
Travel bloggers proclaiming Sosua beach to be one of the best are usually being compensated for their writings and rely on sheer repetition and google rankings for their proclamation to keep circulating.
Some people really like Sosua beach and that is fine. But to proclaim it one of the best, I don't accept that statement and I can't in good conscience repeat it.
Funny you should mention this underlying "other reason" to get rid of the sex tourism stigma. The DR government has been needing and looking into resolving the areas waste issue for 10 years that I know of.. How long before is anybody's guess. Who is going to pay for a 12 million dollar plus wastewater project?? Who do you think payed for the majority of the highway project around Maimon? Who is going to back the floated bonds in an area known for sex tourism?
This "news report" was extensively discussed and confirmed to be complete rubbish on this site several months ago.
Of course it was.. Everyone knows that tourists and especially those from the US and Canada would never travel to the DR or any other impoverished nation to take part in the sexual exploitation of minors or impoverished girls. It's all fake news and never really happens.. The arrests that have been made over the years in the DR regarding this topic never really happened either.. It's our imagination. My mistake..
Of course it happens. Lots of Dominican men having sex with 12-14 year girls as well, and occasionally younger. We had a girl in the school, 6 years old that was raped by her 15 year old cousin that was babysitting her. These are things that happen in almost every country at least a little. There are pedophiles that travel to places like the DR because they are unknown and can use the power of money to get their jollies. Is it a problem, yes. Is it as prevalent as the media makes out, I doubt it. Modern media does a horrible jobs of confirming facts and getting " it right"
Explain to me about the prostitution and Pedophiles I'm kind of dense. If it's all the tourists fault then how come every barrio and pueblo I have been in in the last 20 years that I have lived here has at least 1 cabaña. You will find what would be defined as a Pedophile in almost every pueblo where someone is bonking someone anywhere from 10 years old up.
I don't believe that if you had every tourist on the island available that they could keep just the Cabañas on calle San Isidro in Santo Domingo in business, let alone the rest of the country.
Because cabañas aren't just for doing the deed with your puta. Dominican houses typically have a distinct lack of privacy and couples occasionally need privacy. If you know what I mean.
Never said it was every tourist. I simply made a point why things remain the same, what it would take for POP to attract tourists like PC, and why large investment dollars dont invest into the area. You're welcome to read in whatever else you would like into my posts including this response.
There is some in PC; but it doesn't have the world wide reputation that Sosua has when it comes to prostitution. While morally repulsive, this reputation could be used to help Sosua economically, if the power people play their cards right. Look at cities that have profited big time from vice, like Pattaya (prostitution) and Los Vegas (gambling).
We use cabañas when we travel to Santo Domingo. Beats the check-in hassles of a hotel, you don't have to worry about your car so you don't have to unpack it, and many offer a simple breakfast in the morning pushed through the $$$ window with an 8+ hr. stay.
We use one that charges RD$900 if we check in after 9pm. We have what we call our "Cabaña Bag" ready to go, a sipper duffle with nice sheets, a blanket, two nice pillows, towels, coffee maker...and a showerhead, since those get "lost" at Cabañas.
And since they don't have an a/c thermostat, I take a piece of cardboard to block over half the intake air flow to keep the room from becoming a fridge.
It is rather Ironic, that other places like just outside Vegas which has prostitution, in a Country where it is pretty much Outlawed everywhere else.. and it works just fine.. with no major problems on Tourism , quite the opposite in fact ..
And then in a Country like the DR, where Prostitution is Legal everywhere .. the belief is that it somehow CANT continue to work, in a small town like Sosua .
If you read that out loud, it makes no sense at all.
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