Tourism is the motor that runs a lot of micro-businesses and provides thousands of jobs for both Dominicans and foreigners alike, as reported in El Caribe newspaper. The so-called “smokeless industry” provides jobs and opportunities for a wide variety of people from the artisan to the hairdresser, from the moto-taxi owner to the small restaurant owner. According to a just released study entitled “Micro-Businesses and Tourism in the Dominican Republic: Case studies of Bavaro and Cabarete” by Marina Ortiz, tourism is serving up optimum results for hundreds of small businesses. In Bavaro, six out of ten business ventures have investments of upwards of a million pesos and in Cabarete the number is over 82 out of a hundred have this size investment. Nearly half, 48% of the businesses have investments of US$10,000. On the other side of the scale, one-third of the businesses consulted have an investment of less than half a million pesos. Sales volumes are higher in these businesses than in other areas of the country. In Cabarete some 54% of the businesses surveyed reported sales of over US$50,000 per year. On the national level, only one business in ten reaches that figure. As receivers of hard currency, the micro-business owner also is able to take advantage of the exchange rates. Not only the business owners are able to do well, but also their employees. In 54% of the cases, the employees received compensation based on commissions on sales and in 12% of the shops, there was a combination of salary and commission. Under these guidelines, the employees are earning significantly more money that if they were to be employed directly in the hotel industry. The study looked into 545 micro-businesses, with 290 located in Bavaro and the remainder in Cabarete.