I think GREED is the better word here.

What they say they have lost 1 million tourists.
Now who is lying, Leonel or the Tourism dept. under Leonel;

Check put how much of your air ticket price is taxes, particularly Dominican taxes. Then there are bed taxes and Government alone knows what all else. All the fuel taxes go into ? the tunnel ? The highway system is being turned over to private pay to drive toll operations. Telephone taxes are at 28% - and my telephone bill is higher than my electrical bill which does not seem reasonable to me? Lionel and Obama are cut from the same cloth. We will see where this takes us as we go over the cliff.

there thirst for taxes , thristy for corruption , thirsty for money and thirsty for darkness and never solving the electricity problem , when is evolution gonna finnaly land in the dominican republic . its time for a change, Let the development of the human mind begin , aprrove that 4 percent for education gdp

Always the same people who rush to conclusion. The article is talkiing about the Caribbean region losing 1 million tourists, not the DR. The CHTA is not a DR institution, the DR is just a member country.

Tonito, do you believe that the Punta Cana Association of Hotels would rally for the Caribbean? What the hell is the matter with your eyes?

This government has said tourism is on the INCREASE. If Punta Cana isn't increasing that means we have double digit decreases since Puerto Plata tourism is non existant now.

What a government, what a people who believe this BS Government!. Tonito must be one of the other posters in DRAG! Me thinks the cheerleader!!

The hotels and restaurants should take away that 10% services charge per room and for waiters and watress that they charged, because they don't distribute it the way it should be and instead keep it to themselves. Gratuty should be pay up on how happy are you with the services and not mandatory.

Tomate,
What other Caribbean nation has a higher TAX than DR. The dominican republic raise taxes when funds are low. Those hoteliers are a breath away from saying " PEACE I'M OUT" of the dominican republic, this place is a joke.

Think about it, $127USD to get into DR, 10USD to leave the airport, 8% increase in elec., high fuel prices, outlandish taxi fees, uneducated employees, crooked officials wanting gifts, the selling of untreated bottled water, unofficial liens on property, poor medical care, 71% of the nation making less than 300USD a month, kangaroo courts with part-time judges, CHOLERA, 67USD to leave the country, an absent president that only shows for photo ops and doesn't address the nation..... This place is definitely not profitable. The dominican republic is lucky these people want to work things out.

If any country is capable of killing the "goose that lays golden eggs",certainly it is ours.

not like the "cat", lies have many more than nine lives in the dominican life.
we all know the truth of that.
the right masters the art of the lie.
distort, fabricate and repeat. politics with its repetition of lies.
the propaganda machine of president leo, does it really matter abaout the tourists and the hotel business?
this government as past governments has absoutelly no intentions of sharing any wealth that the country earns with its citizen's.
does it???

How could DT not mention the laundry list of tax increases.

And I love how the gov't is blaming the IMF by claiming that in order to get our finances in order we must increase the taxes. NO YOU G.D. LADRONES. DECREASE THE WASTEFUL SPENDING AND THEFT AND THEN THE FINANCES WILL BE IN ORDER.

And of course this guarantees that Danilo has no chance at all. A fitting part gift from LF.

That's what the IMF actually does, they impose structural adjustments to get a country's finances "on track." Anyhow, neither here nor there...

The PRIVATE SECTOR will always say that taxes and regulations will bring about "DOOMSDAY." Maximizing profits is their job, sorta speak. so they will fight tooth and nail to avoid taxes and regulations.

But as always, a balanced approach is best. can't ignore the voice of the fat cats, but they can't be the only ones dictating the policies.

One only has to look at the yachting industry to see what the future will be.
The govt. is soooo nearsighted and greedy they disallow any development of the industry by levying astronomical taxes. The wealthy Dominicans have their yachts delivered by sea under their own power and they completely avoid all taxes. They only pay few hundred dollars per year for a cruising permit. This is another example of ignorance and why we need to invest in education so we can hopefuly have educated elected officials that will act in a responsable patriotic way and not a greedy personal way.

I suppose I'm dreaming.

Baldo,

Wouldn't you think that the president of DR would already know or have an idea of what is to come when monies is owed to the IMF and the consequences when dealing with the IMF. The IMF has been around for a long period of time and sets examples for everyone to see all over the world. An educated person would have a plan before dealing with an entity as such. Thank leo, lee-FLEE is a failure of a president, but, as a con artist, he is first class. Lee-FLEE over extended the ability of a nation to pay-back a debt and now everyone has to pay for it. Check out the 8% increase on the scarce electricity, the excuse the theorist comes up with was , "it needed to show dominicans how to save electricity"... the truth is that the government is trying to find ways to squeeze a nickel out of a frogs ass to pay back a debt the it had no intention to follow threw. Also, there is no desire or the mental capacity for the government to come up with a balanced approach..... IT'S SICKENING.

RobertoJose:

The article talks about the tendency of the REGION (not just the DR) to raise taxes on the tourism industry.

In the DR, hoteliers always whine about taxes but they keep bulding new resorts. Either they are fools (I don't think so), or they are "lucky" and still make profits (more likely).

the hoteliers association only cares about how much money they can make but do not care about having qualify employees.

when in business one should make a profit. yes its the only thing that counts in the business world.
whats wrong with that? it happens in the real world every day all around the globe,
may be news for the dr to understand this but!!!!!!!!

Go off resort and have dinner and drink's and you get suckered punched with another outrageous tax .

Yes, tourism in the DR is up slightly and this very small increase comes on the back of Mexico who is seeing their tourism down 31% because of the publicity from the drug violence. Tourism in the DR has a future but before that happens we need to see a change in government attitude. The tourist road going from the Punta Cana airport along the northeast coast where all the hotels are located has never been finished. Meanwhile tourist come to Punta Cana and experience roads with potholes, traffic congestion as well as piles of trash along the highway. Great impression we make for the first time visitor. Meanwhile government continues to tax, tax this valuable resource without giving in return. The clock is ticking and very shortly we'll see our largest tourist market (USA) going to CUBA which is very close to opening. Experts see tourist from the USA being reduced as much as 28% and if you want to know how that will effect our economy just do nothing and wait.