A word about an update on tourism and life in the DR….

Renn Loren

It is clear to me from some of the comments in the comments section of my “An Update on Tourism and Life in the DR” article, that I should probably clear up a few things to ease some evident confusion and cool some of the flame wars.

First: I am in no way associated, affiliated, or connected with any part of, segment, or branch of the Dominican tourist industry. I have no financial stakes or interests of any kind riding on whatever I may write here or anywhere else. I wish I did because I could buy a few more beers at happy hour…but I don’t. Therefore I write from nothing more than the standpoint of sheer honest opinion – subjective though it may be.

Any notion of any “spin” in these articles is absurd, misinformed, and wholly incorrect. If you read any of my other previous columns or essays on the subject, you will see that I preface them with the fact that everywhere, including the Dominican Republic, has its dangers, pitfalls, and crimes. I have never tried to paint the DR as some kind of Disneyland of the Caribbean where nothing ever goes wrong.

Second: news being what it is we are all more than aware that there is too much crime, corruption, and horror in every country. There are extremely few if any exceptions. Most people know this – anyone who travels undoubtedly does.
I felt no need to add to the legion of negative, alarmist, despairing, gloom, doom, and dread reportage out there. Nor did I wish to contribute to the sunshine, rainbows, and unicorns versions of reality offered by most travel-oriented articles, publications, and outlets.

The fact that particular mainstream media corps and posts on social media networks had seemingly conflated disparate, unrelated events and incidents and presented them in suggestive, inflammatory and exaggerated contexts caught Dominican authorities off guard. This led to a slightly panicked damage control which came off as obscuring and disingenuous, further inviting suspicion and adding impetus to the ensuing smear campaign media circus.

My goal is to bring something a little more centrist, sober, calm, cool, collected, and closer to resembling actual reality to the conversation. My views are not politically, financially or otherwise but subjectively derived, influenced, biased, or motivated. With any luck, this perspective might help diffuse some of the suspicion, mistrust, misinformation, and miscommunication going on around this and other subjects concerning the DR.

Thanks very much for reading and keep the informed comments coming!