NewsWhore
10-12-2007, 03:21 PM
The lack of an efficient information system for tourists who visit the DR has created an informal practice of charging tourists 25% more for gifts and artwork they buy in the country. Hoy is reporting that in the DR there are 5,000 stores and 2,500 producers dedicated to making and selling artwork and gifts to tourists. In the Colonial Zone, Santo Domingo's most visited tourist area, 4 tourist guide companies operate employing 12 to 15 people. He explained that stores pay the tourist guides 25% sales commission for items purchased by tourists they bring into the store. This is down from a max of 35% in the past.
The unnamed owner of a gift shop told Hoy that "tourists are managed like sheep, when they see something in a store window and stare at it and might stop to buy it, the tour guide says 'no don't buy that because at that store they sell fake gifts and other bad stuff,' so the guide can take the tourist to another store."
Hoy explains that in other Caribbean nations, with which the DR is competing, tourists are given brochures and magazines showing where they can go for shopping and everybody receives the same 10% commission on sales. The high commission is passed on to the tourists, making the gifts more expensive, and causing long term damage to the sector, complained the store owners.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#10)
The unnamed owner of a gift shop told Hoy that "tourists are managed like sheep, when they see something in a store window and stare at it and might stop to buy it, the tour guide says 'no don't buy that because at that store they sell fake gifts and other bad stuff,' so the guide can take the tourist to another store."
Hoy explains that in other Caribbean nations, with which the DR is competing, tourists are given brochures and magazines showing where they can go for shopping and everybody receives the same 10% commission on sales. The high commission is passed on to the tourists, making the gifts more expensive, and causing long term damage to the sector, complained the store owners.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#10)