These morons don't understand that to increase tourism will require increasing the quality of experience which is piss poor and uncompetitive with the stupid all inclusive prison hotel formula. If you improve the experience you will go from 8% repeat guest ration to approach the 40% repeat ratio of Mexico and then you can achieve your goal with ease.

Put a helmet on and get in the game!

I have to agree...they are expecting to more than double the arrivals. Based on reviews from those who normally go to Mexico for a vacation, the DR for the most part did not meet expecations in regards to service. Until we have a properly educated (hospitality sector) staff, we cannot expect that the growth will occur. I just drove back from the airport in Punta Cana to Bavaro. I hope the government does not build schools and government buildings like they do roads....it is actually embarrassing. No signage that means anything.

The Coral Autoroute was a good start....NOW.....F I N I S H...what was started a decade ago...the Tourist Boulevard through Bavaro. I will be picking my daughter up from....con't

school in a few minutes. This requires a drive through the most chaotic, stupid intersection in the area and one that most tourists will see. Nice first impression of how advanced we are. Think looking at that inspires confidence in tourists to get our and explore the region???


The whole road is typical....VERY DANGEROUS intersections...again...with NO SIGNAGE.....a round about that is NOT SIGNED....NOR LIT...that eats a few cars a week. I see the resorts doing what they have to to keep themselves in business. If left solely to the government....can you imagine the 3/4 finished mess we would have?

Lesson #1....finish what you start...the Tourist Boulavard was started 10 years ago....look at it now....it looks like a pieced together Honda C70...some of this...some of that...and little that holds it all together.

Spot on Mike...

why would someone return when your first sight is unfinished roads with holes and gardage, then have to run the gauntlet of the highway robberies and crazy drivers...

all you guys who have posted thus far should write a primer on the subject, and send it to the morons in charge. what they involve themselves in is a concept known as planning without plans. they just want a higher head count, without quality improvements, which is counterproductive. it will simply condemn the tourist industry to the low end, attracting guys who come on 500 dollar, 7 day, trips. the smart money will end up going to other islands that sell a high class product. besides, expanding the industry exposes it to the concept of diminishing marginal productivity. the bigger it gets, the more resources you have to put into it. that includes LABOR. that means you end up taking worse and worse employees, because, as any breathing person knows, you usually hire the best available persons first, then the second stringers next.

Try driving through FRIUSA between 4PM and 6:30 PM. How about risking your life after dark on the road to or from Hard Rock.

Then listen to every guest tell you how the employees tell them not to go out because it's too dangerous.

Who's going to come back to a place where they fear for their safety?

These morons don't understand that to increase tourism will require increasing the quality of experience which is piss poor and uncompetitive with the stupid all inclusive prison hotel formula. If you improve the experience you will go from 8% repeat guest ration to approach the 40% repeat ratio of Mexico and then you can achieve your goal with ease.

Put a helmet on and get in the game!
THANK U FOR THIS COMMENT.

{friend i have was on a cruise that made a stop in the dr, he asked me why are the streets so dirty? he asked why is every empty lot full of trash? he also asked why the taxi cab loaed up the cab with so many people in it and then charged every tourists the same amount which ran around $35us?
aked me why are all the homes have bars and gates around them?
he asked a lot of questions but then told me he would never come back to this island.

then listen to every guest tell you how the employees tell them not to go out because it's too dangerous
used to hang around playa dora in pop, this happen all the time.
many tourists where so scared they thought to cut their vacation short and leave real fast.
good work guys keep it up u will make lots of friends. this way.
[get a real police force with people that can speak english so if a tourists has a problem they can help them} not rob them also. treat tourists not as 'prey" then maybe they will come back again.

Synapse, Mike, et al,

You are surely right on the head of the nail, but there are two nails here. As a Canadian tourist, I occasion frequent discussion with fellow travellers. Price is a factor here as well. The RD is not expensive, but Mexico is cheaper.

There is also a mind set that prevails. People here are in a rut, and go back to Mexico because "they've always gone to Mexico". I keep telling them; If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got". This really means, "Lean way back and yank your head out and try something new". LOL.

(cont'd).........

Yes your infrastructure needs attention. But for the all inclusive tourist, it's not nearly as important as the experience at the resort.

It's not the poverty and crime in the RD. If that were true then no one would go to Mexico. Hell, they hunt Canadians for sport there. LOLOL

Here's the other nail. We see commercials for nearly every Caribbean destination, but we virtually NEVER see such promotion of the RD.

Tell to your government offices to get the word out. The RD is an amazing place with outstanding people and culture. It is surely the finest island I've ever visited, and as such it's the one destination that will see lots of my dollars annually,

Maybe if we can get more people to cause the tourist industry to explode, then the dollars can help the people out of poverty, build the roads, fix the hydro, and on and on. Use us tourists to create and ever funding resource for your benefit. Obviously I love and believe in the RD y toda su gente.

If ever there was a country capable of killing, cooking, and eating the goose that lays golden eggs, it is the DR.

says theoriginalmrb

Maybe if we can get more people to cause the tourist industry to explode, then the dollars can help the people out of poverty, build the roads, fix the hydro, and on and on. Use us tourists to create and ever funding resource for your benefit. Obviously I love and believe in the RD y toda su gente

why has it not done so already? do you not think that 4 million tourists per year drop a lot of money into the tourism coffers? it is a matter of WHO gets the money.

"not halt the industry’s development"

Of course it could. The scum bag do nothing transparent corruption morons will steal from the tourism industry when they get pushed out of their no show jobs.

Now if only the D.R.'s politicians and general public thought like the people on these comments......hmmm the possibilities...

i visit yearly! and i like the DR just the way it is. but you will never find me in an all inclusive. i go inland. things are different once you get away from the tourist destination. and you get to see and experience the real dr. and never have i felt as though it was dangorous. my tip to all i talk to that are going to the DR is, get away from those destinations,and make some freinds. you will have a vacation like never before. but hey ! thats just me. i'm a different sort of tourist.

Dreadlocks:

Thanks! You have valid a point there and I understand your suspicion. But from what I see reported in DT, the new administration appears to be trying to get things on the right tracks. It sure seems that the new leader has the right focus, and he just needs more time. No government is without oddities in process. I truly hope it's not all optics.

So, why has it not exploded further? Well, I sincerely feel that my point has some meat on the bone. That is; we never ever see any television advertisements for the RD here. We see all other Caribbean destinations, but not the RD. I have no idea why that is, and I'm sending a letter to the Minister to find out exactly why. I would suggest that others do the same. Perhaps it’s a question to be issued to the resort owners, and to our travel agency organizations here too. I intend to make some ripples. Together we could make waves.

Curious1: My hat is off to you. But I need more Spanish skills first. LOL

originalmrb, you are right about publicity. turn your tv on, watch a few sitcoms and crime dramas, and you will inevitably see a commercial for Sandals and Superclubs hotels. sometimes, these are even in prime time. stay up all night watching, and you will see an ads for the DR, at 3.30 am. what the heck??want to make the advertising dollar go a long way? sponsor a NASCAR team! millions watch, every week. besides, the demographic that watches is wide enough that you will get many potential tourists.

Dread;

Do you remember me saying a while back the tourism industry in ganeral needs schooling to come close to those in the rest of the Caribbean archipielago ?The responsability partially falls
in the Hotels industry's lap.From advertisement to well trainned personnel. What does the Tourism minister has to do with it ,is beyond me? Again unless it is looking for gvt hand out in form of infrastructure subsidy like the ELECTRICAL sector,to build HW from point A to point B
for its tourist to travel on and create more BOTELLAS. The gvt should get after the hotel owners since they are the profiteers & tax evaders on the grounds they create unskilled jobs, for an unskilled nation.

Josie everyone is sick and tired of you.

It time that we all send an email to DT to have him, her, it, whatever BANDED from the site.

ALL in say I

Well guys. I've taken my own medicine and written a letter to the Minister. In it I suggested that he find some marketing dollars for prime time advertising, and also subtle pressure on the hotel owners and foreign tourist associations to partner up or follow in kind of their own accord. Either plan will work.

The gov't can set standards for the resort owners to comply with, and a timeframe to do it in. That's a good start.

I totally agree 100%, that the resort ownership has a responsibility to train their staff in multiple skill sets, (multi lingualism being number one on the docket). That's a very long term plan and the economy can't wait 5 years. However, they can start right now and run that facet in parallel to other immediate training - that's for certain. But for now let’s just get the people a job, and create more by getting more people to come visit.


I'll let you know if anything comes of my letter to the Minister. I have faith.

Dreadlocks & MrThelmoAlmeydaRancier:

What you said. ^5 to you my firend. Your insight is bang on the money. We need more like you gentlemen here.

As I'd said before; the new administration is making all the right noises and appears to be moving in the right direction. It's time to get in the game while all this positive enforcement is in flight. The lesson that we suely take from that well known case in South America, is that sometime after corruption, a new broom sweeps clean. But the Gov't is only an elected representative. As such they can only go so far. The people of the nation make the difference.

The time for nashing of teeth may be over. Grab the rope and pull.

Sorry to belabour this folks.

But if any tourists or potential tourists are reading this, then the days of the dollar tipping the hotel staff are over. Help these people out by tipping real cash. They are paid small dollars. You can make a difference by subsidizing that by being more generous.

You'd give the porters and wait staff much more in North America. Five bucks here, twenty bucks there. So why is it reasonable to do differently in the RD? Is it because the exchange rate is so high? Well, so is inflation on the island! Wake up! Dammit, we get an unbelievable deal on the holiday. For Pete's Sake, drop some real gratuities on the folks who are beating their brains out daily for you and me.

Mr Rancier, and originalmrb , have their fingers squarely on the pulse. the department of tourism is there to facilitate development, not to develop. that is the function of the people in the industry. government can listen to proposals, and create legislation, and incentives, but cannot be looked at as the savior. most bureaucrats know less than nothing about any kind of business, let alone something as complex, and as delicate, as tourism

To those who don't appreciate what the Dominican Ministry of Tourism, ASONAHORES, and the Consorcio Dominicano de Competitividad Turistico (CDCT) is doing to promote the quality and variety of tourism in the DR (or who are interested in learning more about the vacation opportunities in the DR), I recommend that you look at the following three websites: godominicanrepublic (com); dominicantreasures (com); and turismocdct (org) .Please note in the CDCT's website that they are announcing the organization of their second FODATUR conference, which will take place in Santo Domingo on October 31-November 1, 2012, and will be the ideal forum for all you who are interested in improving the quality and competitiveness of tourism in the Dominican Republic

will the conference be open to the public, or just to the usual suspects? the problem is that there are too many conferences, and too little action.

Good question dread and staement.too.

The FODATUR conference is is open to all persons interested in improving the quality and competitiveness of Dominican tourism, especially those from the private sector, and are willing to pay the registration fee of RD$4,500 for the 2-day conference which includes lunches and coffee breaks. Perhaps, there have been too many conferences, but let's hope that this one provides the information and commitment from both the public and private sectors to make the necessary changes in the most cost-effective way. Vamos a ver!

well, that is an intelligent strategy to get some fresh input. charge 4500 pesos entry fee. what that will ensure is that only people with a personal axe to grind will show up. i might have some worthwhile suggestions to offer, but i sure as heck am not going to pony up 4 large just to say my piece. what is in it for me, after i blow that coin on listening to a bunch of people making suggestions which are intended to help their end of the business?

Not bad for US$12,00 a day lunch and breakfast for 10 working days.
Is it buffett lunch and double breakfast Dominican style? Am in !

i always tip well !