Russian tourists turned out to be the most daring travelers who were not afraid to go outside the hotels – which opened the Dominican Republic for tourists, and also brought great benefits to the country's economy. Hans Dannenberg, Ambassador of the Dominican Republic in Russia, thanked domestic tourists for this, speaking to Russian students from the Higher School of Economics.
According to him, since most of the hotels in the Dominican Republic both worked and still work on the all inclusive principle, usually tourists did not leave the territory of such hotels, as a result, Western tour operators and Western owners of hotel chains received the main benefit from such tourism. When the country's tourism industry began to offer more excursion programs that made it possible to explore the Dominican Republic outside the hotel, Russian tourists helped the Dominicans here.
“Italians, Germans, Canadians – they almost never left the hotel, spent all the time near the bar. Russians are a completely different matter. They like to explore – rent a motorcycle and go somewhere, go to a restaurant, go on an excursion, to some exotic island, buy coconut bananas. And so the local population began to recognize Russian tourists, because they were the first to leave the hotel, and thus began to benefit the country's economy, – said Mr. Dannenberg.
He also gave Russian tourists an unexpected compliment, praising them for their discipline. “Russian tourists are highly valued here, they never gave us problems, but only allowed the local population to develop,” the ambassador said.
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