Research and Markets: The Dominican Republic Is Suffering Less Than Many Other Caribbean Countries from the Tourist Slowdown According To Report Caribbean Tourism Report Q4 2009

 

DUBLIN–(Business Wire)–
Research and
Markets(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/057c84/caribbean_tourism) has
announced the addition of the “Caribbean Tourism Report Q4 2009″ report to their
offering.

The Caribbean Tourism Report provides industry professionals and strategists,
corporate analysts, tourism associations, government departments and regulatory
bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on the
Caribbean’s tourism industry.

2009 Arrivals Continue To Suffer The Caribbean is continuing to suffer heavily
from the downturn in the global tourist industry. Of the 21 countries reporting
2009 figures, only three experienced an increase in tourist arrivals. These
were: Cuba, with arrivals growth of 2.0% year-on-year; Jamaica, with 0.2%
growth; and Saba, with 1.4% growth. Even such growth rates are well below those
traditionally enjoyed by the region of 8-10%. Moreover, some countries reported
major drops in tourist arrivals. The worst affected were Anguilla (-21.4%), the
British Virgin Islands (-25.1%), St Maarten (-16.1%) and the Bahamas (-15.3%).

The Caribbean is suffering particularly heavily from the downturn because it has
historically been one of the more expensive tourist destinations and therefore
is marketed more towards high-end and luxury travellers. With incomes suffering
globally, tourists appear to be choosing cheaper and closer holiday destinations
at the expense of the Caribbean. Also, much of the Caribbean’s tourism has been
concentrated in the cruise industry, which is suffering in line with other
luxury travel options. With Q209 arrivals appearing to continue the downward
trend, we remain negative on prospects for Caribbean arrivals in 2009,
especially given the start of the hurricane season in August.

Focus On The Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is suffering less than
many other Caribbean countries from the tourist slowdown. In the first four
months of 2009 arrivals fell by 4.8% year-on-year (y-o-y), making it the fifth
best performing country in the region.

The country is weathering the downturn better than some of its neighbours for
several reasons. For one, it possesses a highly developed tourist
infrastructure, with substantial developments along the beachfront and a good
balance between charter holiday and high-end resorts. Its long coastline gives
it an abundance of locations, while the capital, Santo Domingo, provides a good
base for travellers wishing to explore more of the country. Unlike some other
Caribbean destinations, the Dominican Republic benefits from a varied landscape,
with tourists able to explore the beaches and the mountainous interior. These
factors should help it to mitigate the effects of the 2009 downturn and position
it for a recovery into 2010.

Eastern Caribbean Ferry Service Opens With regional incomes suffering during the
economic downturn, regional flights are beginning to appear too expensive. To
counter this, countries in the Eastern Caribbean are to open a new ferry service
in October 2009. Grenada-based company BEDY Ocean Line will launch operations
serving Barbados, St Lucia, Trinidad, Grenada and St Vincent. One ferry will be
based in St Vincent and serve St Lucia and Barbados, while the other will be
based in Grenada and serve Trinidad and Barbados.

With prices ranging between US$120 and US$140, the ferry service offers a cheap
alternative to flights in the region and should be popular with locals and
tourists. Currently, the only Caribbean ferries operating are between Florida
and the Bahamas, and between Puerto Rico and the US and British Virgin Islands.
The launch of the ferry service will be negative for regional airline Liat,
which is already struggling to maintain revenue in an environment of declining
passenger demand and an ongoing pay dispute with workers.

Key Topics Covered:

* EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
* SWOT ANALYSIS
* INDUSTRY FORECAST SCENARIO
* MARKET OVERVIEW - TRAVEL
* MARKET OVERVIEW - HOSPITALITY
* CURRENCY FORECAST
* GLOBAL ASSUMPTIONS
* COMPANY PROFILES
* METHODOLOGY

Companies Mentioned:

* Air Jamaica
* Royal Caribbean Cruises
* Sol Meliá

For more information visit
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/057c84/caribbean_tourism 

Research and Markets
Laura Wood, Senior Manager,
press@researchandmarkets.com
U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907
Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Copyright Business Wire 2009

Source:   http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS179803+02-Nov-2009+BW20091102

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Dominica’s finance minister Vicente Bengoa

(Photo) http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/slideshow/ALeqM5gVqiSFR0KseBr9KD2wMeFpwLCJkA?index=0&ned=us

Associated Press

Venezuela to buy large share of DR oil refinery

Associated Press, 10.30.09, 12:38 PM EDT

 SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — The Dominican Republic agreed Friday to sell nearly half the shares of its oil refinery to Venezuela for $132 million in a bid to boost production, officials said.

EU lawyers warn:
Concordats endanger human rights
 

 Concordats help enforce Canon Law, the Vatican version of Sharia

Under Canon Law wife beating is no ground for divorce — in fact, nothing is. Therefore if you’ve been married in a Catholic Church, which means under Canon Law, you may find that a concordat has deprived you of your right to a civil divorce. The Polish concordat phrases it with great delicacy (1993, Article 10.2), calling for the state to put in place the enabling legislation which would enforce “concordat marriage”. But the Dominican one (1954, Article 15.2) says explicitly that people married in a Catholic church, and therefore under Canon Law, may never file for a divorce.

Concordat marriage was also the rule under dictators of the past. The 1940 Portuguese one concluded with Salazar prescribed this for all Catholics: anyone wanting a divorce had to leave the church, but at least divorce was legal. However, divorce was impossible under both the Italian concordat with Mussolini (1929, Art. 34) and the Spanish one with Franco, (1953, Art. 23-25). It is still impossible in Malta, and the 1993 Marriage Concordat is meant to keep it that way. Now the Vatican is trying, where it can, to bring back concordat marriage elsewhere.

 Other concordat clauses enforce Canon Law on the employees of Church-run institutions, even though these are funded by the state. For example, the concordat with Hitler (1933, Article 24) is used to this day to fire teachers in Catholic schools if they remarry after a civil divorce.

Through these intimidated Church employees, concordats can be used to enforce Canon Law on the general public. The Slovak “conscience concordat” would have prevented doctors in Church-run hospitals from performing abortions or nurses from giving out information about family planning, since it gave them the “right” to claim that this went against their religious conscience. And, of course, if they didn’t exercise this “right” to impose Canon Law on others, they’d lose their jobs. In a rural area where the only hospital may be Church-run, this can effectively limit access to what are in Slovakia perfectly legal services.

At this point legal experts appointed by the European Union put their foot down. They stated firmly that denying access to such services, Canon Law or no Canon Law, was a violation of international Human Rights. Read more…

Source:http://www.concordatwatch.eu/

Note: Highlights, Bolds and Underscores added.

Step out for Life

Next Sunday, 25 October, beginning at 8:00am and for the fourth consecutive year, you can donate your steps at the Walk for Life 2009 at the National Botanical Gardens. Walk for Life is an event promoted by the MercaSID company to raise funds for institutions that help cancer patients. The main beneficiary institutions are: the League against Cancer (Liga Contra el Cancer), the Dominican Miracles of Charity Pharmacy (Farmacia Dominicana Milagros de la Caridad), the Friends against Cancer Foundation (Fundacion Amigos contra el Cancer), Jesus with the Children Voluntary Service (Voluntariado Jesus con los Ninos) and Plaza de la Salud Voluntary Service (Voluntariado Plaza de la Salud) and people who cannot pay for their treatment.
Registration costs just RD$350 per person, and includes a T-shirt. Promotional items are also on sale at the registration locations to help raise funds for the cause. People can register at places including Haagen Daz, Multicentro Churchill, Bella Vista Mall, Megacentro, Jardin Botanico, MercaSID and Voluntariado de Jesus con los Ninos.
Let’s go walking for a good cause!

Source:  http://dr1.com/

Faro a Colón

Dominican Republic

Religion

More than 90 percent of Dominicans were professed Roman Catholics. In the late 1980s, the church organization included 1 archdiocese, 8 dioceses, and 250 parishes. There were over 500 clergy, more than 70 percent of whom belonged to religious orders. This yielded a ratio of nominal Roman Catholics to priests of more than 10,000 to 1. Among Latin American countries only Cuba, Honduras, and El Salvador had higher ratios in the late 1980s

Roman Catholicism is the official religion of the Dominican Republic, established by a Concordat with the Vatican. For most of the populace, however, religious practice was limited and formalistic. Few actually attended Mass regularly. Popular religious practices were frequently far removed from Roman Catholic orthodoxy. What little religious instruction most Dominicans traditionally received came in the form of rote memorization of the catechism. Many people felt that they could best approach God through intermediaries - the clergy, the saints, witches (brujos), and curers (curanderos). The saints played an important role in popular devotion. Curanderos consulted the saints to ascertain which herbs, roots, and various home cures to employ. Witches (brujos) also cured by driving out possessive spirits that sometimes seized an individual

Many Dominicans viewed the Roman Catholic clergy with ambivalence. People respected the advice of their local priest, or their bishop, with regard to religious matters; however, they often rejected the advice of clergy on other matters on the assumption that priests had little understanding of secular affairs. Activist priests committed to social reform were not always well-received because their direct involvement with parishioners ran counter to the traditional reserve usually displayed by the Roman Catholic clergy. Villagers often criticized this social involvement. Nonetheless, the priest was generally the only person outside their kinship group that people trusted and confided in. As such, the parish priest often served as an advocate in rural Dominicans’ dealings with larger society

Foreigners predominated among the clergy. The clergy itself was split between the traditional, conservative hierarchy and more liberal parish priests. At the parish level, some priests engaged in community development projects and in efforts to form comunidades de base (grass-roots Christian communities), designed to help people organize and work together more effectively

The Roman Catholic Church was apolitical during much of the Trujillo era, although a pastoral letter protested the mass arrests of government opponents in 1960. This action so incensed Trujillo that he ordered a campaign of harassment against the Church. Only the dictator’s assassination prevented his planned imprisonment of the country’s bishops. The papal nuncio attempted to administer humanitarian aid during the 1965 civil war. The bishops also issued various statements throughout the 1970s and the 1980s, calling for respect for human rights and an improved standard of living for the majority. In the 1970s, Bishop Juan Antonio Flores of La Vega campaigned for indemnification for peasants displaced by the expansion of the Pueblo Viejo mine. Bishop Juan F. Pepen and Bishop Hugo Polanco Brito both supported the efforts of peasants and sugar colonos to organize

Protestants first came as migrants from North America in the 1820s. West Indian laborers added to their numbers in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. By the 1920s, the various Protestant groups had organized nationally and had established links with North American Evangelical groups. The main Evangelical groups included the Seventh Day Adventists, the Dominican Evangelical Church, and the Assemblies of God. Protestant groups expanded, mainly in the rural areas, during the 1960s and the 1970s; Pentecostals made considerable inroads in some regions. With minor exceptions, relations between Protestants and the Roman Catholic majority were cordial

Most Haitian immigrants and their descendants adhered to voodoo, and practiced it in secret because the government and the general population regarded the folk religion as pagan and African. In Haiti voodoo encompassed a well-defined system of hierology and ceremonialism

Ethnic groups: white 16%, black 11%, mixed 73

Religions: Roman Catholic 95

Languages: Spanish

Country name:
conventional long form: Dominican Republic
conventional short form: none
local long form: Republica Dominicana
local short form: non

–> <!– 

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)–The International Monetary Fund announced Tuesday a staff-level agreement with the Dominican Republic for a $1.7 billion loan.

The IMF’s executive board must still approve the 28-month stand-by arrangement.

“We applaud the authorities for their strong program of policies, which demonstrates their commitment to fortify the institutional framework and the economy of the Dominican Republic,” said IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn in a statement.

The Dominican Republic sent the fund a letter of intent committing to a primary budget deficit of 0.8% of gross domestic product in 2009, with plans to reach a balanced budget in 2010 and a 2% of GDP surplus in 2012.

To reach that goal, the government plans a range of structural reforms, including improving tax administration and sharply cutting tax exemptions.

-By Tom Barkley, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9275; tom.barkley@dowjones.com

Source:  http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20091006-710119.html

Source:  http://www.belenjesuit.org/Page.aspx?pid=641

Venezuela’s Cisneros says to build Dominican Rep resort