DR hotel occupancy rate is dropping....

[cobraboy]

Originally Posted by batich

Why is it sad?!

Do you prefer crowd, noise and contamination/garbage associated with the influx of tourists?
Do tens of thousands of tourists do good for the coastal ecology and quality of life?

I am of a different opinion.

Current wave of violent crime against gringos is a very bad thing for sure. But less tourists - should be welcome.

Fewer tourists spending fewer dollars will just make the crime situation worse for everybody.

[Alyonka]

I was in SD during Memorial Day weekend - there were no vacancies in some hotels (Marriott for example). Planes were full and airports crowded. Everyone seems to be headed in that direction. I will choose a different time to go next time - not a long holiday weekend

[batich]

Originally Posted by cobraboy

Fewer tourists spending fewer dollars will just make the crime situation worse for everybody.

Respectfully have to disagree. Influx of tourists attracts criminal and other undesirable elements to the areas affected by tourism.

It is a proven fact in many touristic destinations of the world. Criminals have nothing to do in areas without deep pocketed Western tourists.

Also, cost of life becomes higher due to the touristic infestation as business owners immediatelly increase prices on everything. And poor local population has to pay these new prices, not only rich NA tourists.

Tourism is good for maybe 5% of population - hotel and restaurant owners. For the rest it means loss of the natural beauty of the wonderful Caribbean island Espanola.

[cobraboy]

Originally Posted by batich

Respectfully have to disagree. Influx of tourists attracts criminal and other undesirable elements to the areas affected by tourism.

It is a proven fact in many touristic destinations of the world. Criminals have nothing to do in areas without deep pocketed Western tourists.

Also, cost of life becomes higher due to the touristic infestation as business owners immediatelly increase prices on everything. And poor local population has to pay these new prices, not only rich NA tourists.

Tourism is good for maybe 5% of population - hotel and restaurant owners. For the rest it means loss of the natural beauty of the wonderful Caribbean island Espanola.

What about all the folks who earn a living from the tourists? What do they do to replace their incomes?

There are those who believe the bar curfew has fueled crime because it has effected the incomes of so many people.

[batich]

Originally Posted by cobraboy

What about all the folks who earn a living from the tourists? What do they do to replace their incomes?

To go to work. And not to sit all day in the beach trying to sell a T-shirt to somebody at 500% mark-up nor to drive around all day on the moto looking for $2 passengers.

Like all people work in many Northen prosperous non-touristic very developped countries with very difficult climate and weather conditions.

The remedy against poverty is very simple. But there is very few takers. Much more complainers.

[Hipocrito Mejia]

It would be interesting to see how these figures compare to figures from places like Mexico, Costa Rica and Brazil. That would tell us a lot about whether this is only a DR related issue or a more global occurrence.

[cobraboy]

Originally Posted by batich

To go to work. And not to sit all day in the beach trying to sell a T-shirt to somebody at 500% mark-up nor to drive around all day on the moto looking for $2 passengers.

Like all people work in many Northen prosperous non-touristic very developped countries with very difficult climate and weather conditions.

The remedy against poverty is very simple. But there is very few takers. Much more complainers.

Ok.

You don't know.

Got it.

[slrguy]

Man, batich - you have a VERY odd perspective.

Not much of a devotee of real-world economics, are you? To say that tourism only benefits hotels and restaurants is..well...is infantile.

Exactly WHERE should all these people "go to work", who currently eek out a few bucks hawking tshirts on the beach?

And crime is not a direct result of poverty? Tell that to the folks in South Central LA, Liberty City, etc.

It hasn't occurred to you to ponder a little? Hmmm....tourism way down, crime way up, simultaneously? Reckon there's any sort of connection?

Mark Twain had some outstanding advice. "It's better to remain silent, and have people think you're a fool, than to open your mouth, and remove all doubt."

But maybe it's just me....maybe is better to ignore facts, and just tell everyone to go get a job - without recalling that DR unemployment is pretty high. This means- there aren't tons of jobs out there, even IF your friends, the tshirt hawkers, weren't too lazy to work. Let's stick to your plan- preserve the natural beauty, while crime escalates to the point that no one is safe trying to enjoy it. Yea- that's the ticket. We can all admire the natural beauty from the safety of our armored cars...

[cobraboy]

Originally Posted by Beads

My reasonings being fuel costs are at an almost all time high raising the prices of almost all goods.

Payscales are not keeping up with this to any extent.

Now throw in the sub prime issues with peoples homes. There are more homes currently for sale in some of the biggest real estate markets in the US and their costs are far lower than they were last year. I see houses that were selling for 600,000 now for sale for 400,000 and theres tons of them.

Foreclosures are everywhere and people are scared the prices will drop more so the house flippers are scared to invest.

For a lot of people their homes value is one of their major long term investments. If their home is losing value their losing money on one of their most important long term investments.

Yea Bush and his financial analysts say the economy is doing great but if you dont have major assets in oil companies like him and his cronies your not raking in the windfalls of cash they currently are and will probably be seeing things a little more from my perspective.


Just my 0.02.

How does all ^^^this^^^ effect Europeans tourists who also seem to in shorter supply. Bush isn't responsible for them, is he?

The US is hardly the sole source of DR tourists.

[mountainfrog]

Originally Posted by batich

...wonderful Caribbean island Espanola.

Huh?
Española, New Mexico - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tourism is not a devilish thing.
In other countries it has led to a higher GDP which benefitted the population as a whole.
Here this is not so.

Unscrupulous entrepreneurs from abroad as well as within the country skim off profits and pay off politicians to secure their businesses.
The damage to the environment or the locals' living conditions is left unchecked.
The infrastructure cannot cope with a wild proliferation of projects financed by often shady sources.

Strange enclaves like the Punta Cana area only show how perverse the development has come.

m'frog