NewsWhore
10-24-2006, 02:20 PM
The National Hotels and Restaurants Association (Asonahores) is warning that the United States government's decision to require that its citizens traveling to the Caribbean should carry passports will cause serious damage to the Dominican economy, stressing that the US is the principal market for the DR's tourist industry, as reported by Hoy. Asonahores says that 33% of all tourists during 2005 and 2006 came from the US. Asonahores says that this should be one of the topics Leonel Fernandez discusses when he meets with George W. Bush. Passports cost US$100 and significantly increase the overall cost of a vacation for a family of three or four. Asonahores estimates that the country could lose over US$400 million in tourism revenue next year due to the expected drop of tourist flow from the US, and that this would be an "economic catastrophe".
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#9)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#9)