From my experience, it's stray dogs (viralatas) which are the main preferrence on the barrios here, specially at the time of making chimis, while cats seem to be more preferred by our neighbors to the west. If you happen to own a cat and live near a construction, by all means, keep it under lock and key, if you don't want it to end up in one of their "soupe giraumon", that is.

I thought that our neighbors preferred barbecued "bebes"

Opps, we're getting off topic and I confess my guilt in this matter.

On a serious note, if you want to dramatically increase tourism in Samana, learn from Brazil. The town of Aparecida, (compared to this peninsula) has almost nothing to attract tourists, yet gets over 7 million per year. They had a Catholic "miracle".

My suggestion is for a pretty young Dominican virgin to have a vision of the Virgin Mary coming out of the El Lemon waterfall. The next day a number of locals are diagnosed at the local hospital as not having cancer any more.

The Vatican, aware they are losing Dominican followers to the Evangelical Churches in droves, will leap at the opportunity to canonize another saint to sure up their dwindling god-shop market.

Very easy, cheap and effective! Please consider.

OH, GOD.........Roy You have such obsession with religion, what the hell happened?

What ever it was, let it go, bury it and may GOD BLESS YOU

God idea!

Expensive Avtur affects hotel competitiveness

The president of the Puntacana Group Frank Rainieri says that the tourism sector needs a competitiveness law that places it on an equal footing with the 180 countries with which it competes. Rainieri was speaking during the El Pais-El Caribe newspaper-sponsored Invest in Dominican Republic conference last week.

He mentioned that the government decision to maintain the cost of aviation fuel at such high levels is harmful for tourism. "Tourism is a global industry and we have to compete with countries that offer Avtur aviation fuel three dollars lower than here", said Rainieri.

He added that what has happened is that the tour operators then pressure the hotels for steep discounts to compensate for the expensive fuel.

Rainieri says that the Punta Cana International Airport will have received more than 2.2 million tourists by the end of the year. He said 60% of all tourists visiting the Dominican Republic arrive through this airport.

"We have to see which are the new niches to attract them to our market, and diversify, creating new attractions, because we can't continue to offer the same thing," he said during his presentation, as reported in Hoy.

Miami Herald forecasts record year for Dominican tourism

In a news story by Marjie Lambert released on Sunday, 13 November, the Miami Herald reports that tourism is doing well in the Dominican Republic. The Miami Herald forecasts that 2011 will end as a record year for Dominican tourism. Air and cruise ship arrivals through July totaled 2,712,307, compared to Cuba's 1,747,508 and Jamaica's 879,331.

Lambert says experts forecast that by year-end, foreign arrivals should break the five million mark. The Dominican Republic, the Caribbean's top tourism destination, expects record numbers of tourists this year and next, says the story. "It's on pace to receive nearly five million visitors in 2011, topping the record set last year".

"The global economy is clearly having an effect on tourism, but the Dominican Republic is trending higher. It's a growing and developing destination," said Scott Sperling, senior economist at Pennsylvania-based Tourism Economics, which forecasts travel patterns around the world.
"We are attracting the [US] tourists who are not going to Europe because it's far and more expensive," said Humberto Ozoria, spokesman for the Dominican Ministry of Tourism.

Sperling said the total number of visitors to the country - arriving by airplane and cruise ship - is expected to increase by 4.7 percent this year and grow by a robust 5.7 percent in 2012.
"Because of the economic situation, Americans that used to travel to long-haul destinations have shifted their preferences to traveling to closer destinations," the ministry said.

The country is less than two hours from Miami by direct flight, and the government is trying to cash in on that proximity with the advertising slogan "Closer than you think." Tim Mullen, president of Apple Vacations, the largest US operator of tours to the Dominican Republic told the Miami Herald the industry hopes to catch the eye of impulsive travelers for whom shorter trips with attractive prices work well.

www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/13/v-fullstory/2500560/record-year-expected-for-tourism.html