You have worked hard to earn your vacation. You land in the Dominican Republic, head over to your hotel in Cabarete, change into your swimsuit and b-line for the white sand beach and turquoise ocean. Ahh... paradise! You grab a mojito at one of the many fantastic bar/restaurants right there on the beach, and lay down on a lounge chair to absorb the tropical sun.
Relaxation. Finally.
Then it begins - the end of your vacation of peace and tranquility as you dreamed about.
About every 5 minutes, one of the 40-plus vendors sanctioned by the marketing geniuses at the Ministry of Tourism in the DR come to relentlessly harass you. They put a wooden box of worthless trinkets in your face and ask you to buy a voodoo necklace or cheap bracelet nobody wants, so you decline. They persistently offer the box to you again, so you have to repeat, "no thanks, gracias". You put your head back to rest. A few minutes later you take a sip of the mojito, only to find another baby-blue shirted "official" vendor at your side, with the same box of junk the last one showed you. You say no, twice, again. This goes on for pretty much the entire time you are on the beach trying to relax and enjoy your tropical vacation, because, after all, every one of the 40+ men and women selling the same exact box of jungle jewelery has to make sure that you say "no gracias" twice each.
Who's brilliant idea was this to send an army of professional vacation-wreckers to disturb people on the beach? I will tell you who. Some incompetent moron in the Ministry of Tourism for the Dominican Republic deliberately made this decision to completely disregard the peaceful, relaxing vacation experience of the tourist - the very bread and butter of their economy - and implement this anti-tourist program. In addition, if you go to sit down at any one of the restaurants on Cabarete beach, you will have no shelter there from the entourage of ordained trinket peddlers.
I bet NOBODY who works for the Ministry of Tourism in this country ever asked the customer, the tourist, if they like being relentlessly harassed by their minions. I bet NOBODY in the Ministry of Tourism ever figured out that this harassment DISCOURAGES TOURISM to the area, not encourages it. I bet anyone who wants to that the vacationers that come to Cabarete beach go back home with a bad taste in their mouth about this. Many don't return specifically because of this harassment, and even worse, they tell their friends not go go to the Dominican Republic because you will get bombarded with aggressive venders while you are eating at a restaurant or lounging at the beach.
If the idea is to put these men and women to work, I have a better idea. Instead of having them sell unwanted worthless taboo trinkets, put an empty server plate in each of their hands. Have them go around taking drink orders. 50 peso (apx. $1.20) tip automatically included in the bill for each drink. These men and women will make a lot more money, and the harassment will be reduced/eliminated because everybody on the beach wants a pina colada or Presidente.
President Medina should fire the morons who put this harassment plan into place. Replace him/her with the person that runs the Venus Pool Bar at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.
When you are on vacation in Las Vegas and head over to the Venus Pool Bar at Caesar's, you are treated like an Emperor. There, instead of having venders try to sell you worthless necklaces, they have world-class cocktail servers and "grape girls". These grape girls are dressed in toga-like swimwear in the Roman empire theme, and they come over to your lounge chair and sit next to you. As you are laying down, they hand- feed you frozen grapes.... drop them right in your mouth, like you are the king of the universe. As many as you want. For free. NOW THAT'S MARKETING! That is the Las Vegas vacation experience at its best. Of course, if you don't tip that grape girl 5 to 10 bucks for that emperor experience, you are a cheapskate loser and I hope you go home broke.
The DR can do the same thing. Take its people's talents, resources, and put them to work CREATIVELY - in a way that helps the customer's experience AND enhances employment opportunities.
The point is, the people that run this country, from the President to the Minister of Tourism, are not in touch with what the foreigner wants to experience when they vacation in the Dominican Republic. If they had even a little bit of a clue, they would have shit-canned this anti-tourist harassment program before it even got started. But it has been going on for years. That says it all. They put out their own one-track minded agenda such as "lets show them our culture" instead of sitting down with as many tourists as possible and asking them what experiences, what amenities, what things to avoid, etc to enhance the tropical paradise vacation.
Who knows, maybe after the President and Minister of Tourism read this, if they don't have me killed they will hire me as a consultant to figure out real ways to improve the Dominican vacation experience and eliminate the old bullshit that has been going on for way too long.
What changes would you propose? Please leave a comment with your thoughts.
Relaxation. Finally.
Then it begins - the end of your vacation of peace and tranquility as you dreamed about.
Who's brilliant idea was this to send an army of professional vacation-wreckers to disturb people on the beach? I will tell you who. Some incompetent moron in the Ministry of Tourism for the Dominican Republic deliberately made this decision to completely disregard the peaceful, relaxing vacation experience of the tourist - the very bread and butter of their economy - and implement this anti-tourist program. In addition, if you go to sit down at any one of the restaurants on Cabarete beach, you will have no shelter there from the entourage of ordained trinket peddlers.
I bet NOBODY who works for the Ministry of Tourism in this country ever asked the customer, the tourist, if they like being relentlessly harassed by their minions. I bet NOBODY in the Ministry of Tourism ever figured out that this harassment DISCOURAGES TOURISM to the area, not encourages it. I bet anyone who wants to that the vacationers that come to Cabarete beach go back home with a bad taste in their mouth about this. Many don't return specifically because of this harassment, and even worse, they tell their friends not go go to the Dominican Republic because you will get bombarded with aggressive venders while you are eating at a restaurant or lounging at the beach.
If the idea is to put these men and women to work, I have a better idea. Instead of having them sell unwanted worthless taboo trinkets, put an empty server plate in each of their hands. Have them go around taking drink orders. 50 peso (apx. $1.20) tip automatically included in the bill for each drink. These men and women will make a lot more money, and the harassment will be reduced/eliminated because everybody on the beach wants a pina colada or Presidente.
President Medina should fire the morons who put this harassment plan into place. Replace him/her with the person that runs the Venus Pool Bar at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.
The DR can do the same thing. Take its people's talents, resources, and put them to work CREATIVELY - in a way that helps the customer's experience AND enhances employment opportunities.
The point is, the people that run this country, from the President to the Minister of Tourism, are not in touch with what the foreigner wants to experience when they vacation in the Dominican Republic. If they had even a little bit of a clue, they would have shit-canned this anti-tourist harassment program before it even got started. But it has been going on for years. That says it all. They put out their own one-track minded agenda such as "lets show them our culture" instead of sitting down with as many tourists as possible and asking them what experiences, what amenities, what things to avoid, etc to enhance the tropical paradise vacation.
Who knows, maybe after the President and Minister of Tourism read this, if they don't have me killed they will hire me as a consultant to figure out real ways to improve the Dominican vacation experience and eliminate the old bullshit that has been going on for way too long.
What changes would you propose? Please leave a comment with your thoughts.
