SANTO DOMINGO.- Dominican Republic is still an attractive destination for British tourists and hasn’t been determined otherwise by any study, said Dominican ambassador in Great Britain Aníbal de Castro, in reference to a negative report a London newspaper published recently. “Dominicans must understand that the professional standards of British tabloids don’t necessarily correspond with ours, and for that reason all material those newspapers publish must be read from a different angle."

London’s Sunday Mirror published an article picked up by local media, that the United Kingdom considers Dominican Republic the “dodgiest tourism destination," the U.S. equivalent of “shifty.”

"That description of a dodgy tourism destination is the exclusive opinion of a law firm specializing in lawsuits form complaints by holidaymakers and takes cases of British travelers who became ill whilst visiting the country in August last year, but in no way obeys to an independent survey, and rather from mere subjective considerations," said the diplomat.

De Castro said the number of British tourists who visits the country has grown significantly in the last four years, to more than 200,000 annually after falling to about 90,000.  

He said when the problem with tourists lodged in a hotel at Rio San Juan (north) surfaced, Dominican authorities acted rapidly, and the British experts who came to the country to investigate didn’t definitively conclude on the causes of the stomach ailments.

He said there were reports that the tourists could’ve already been ill when they arrived.