Trimaran in the Dominican Republic (Magnera/Flickr)
The Dominican Republic wants travelers to know that its hotels, airports and resorts are open for business and operating as usual.
Why are tourism officials concerned? The DR shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.
The DR was unaffected by the earthquake, but if tourists stay away, the country will be swept up in the island's woe.
"Some travelers who have not been there before don't understand the geography," says Vanessa Welte, spokeswoman for the DR Ministry of Tourism. "Others are seeing the 24-7 TV coverage and want reassurance."
Many relief workers and supplies are entering Haiti via the southwest DR, but the resort areas, cruise port and airports far to the north and east are unaffected, and airports that tourists use are near those resorts. For instance, Punta Cana is 400 miles and a 10- to 12-hour drive away from the Haitian border.
The DR is one of the most popular tourist nations in the Caribbean, including destinations such as Punta Cana, La Romana, Samana and Puerto Plata.
Where are the busy disaster relief areas?
The Maria Montez International Airport in the country's southwest is open but being heavily used for military disaster relief flights, Welter says. The nearby town of Barahona is operating as a staging center. It is on the road to the Haitian border and "there aren't a lot of tourists over there," she says.
The La Isabela regional airport in the country's capital city, Santo Domingo, also is seeing a lot of activity related to disaster aid.
Dominican Republic-bound tourists should check with their travel providers and make a decision. Is it ethical to be vacationing when others are suffering? Or will your visit help support the DR's economy at this critical time?
I'd say, go. Don't let the DR become a secondary casualty.
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Joe Pratt of Plymouth, Mich., is a member of the million-mile club on United Airlines, giving him lifetime "Premier Executive" status.
But to get in, he actually had to fly a million miles.
And he's skeptical that George Clooney's city-hopping businessman in the film "Up in the Air," whom I wrote about last week, could accumulate 10 million miles.
His point? You can't accumulate such miles through credit cards, meals or hotels as depicted in the movie. You actually have to fly.
Of course, "I'm not as good looking as George Clooney," he says.
Pratt got his million miles by traveling around the world in his job with Ford for 37 years. He was responsible for engine programs as a program manager with both Yamaha and Mazda.
"I started going to Japan in 1981 and went a total of 81 times through 2007, when I retired. I also went to Europe 21 times and Mexico 16 times," he says. He would stay 7-10 days each visit.
"I also have about 650,000 actual flight miles on Northwest, but doubt I'll ever get to their million-mile level," he says.
I gently broke it to Joe that "Up in the Air" was fiction -- although we agreed that maybe if you look like George Clooney the airlines will throw in a few million miles .
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Ellen Creager: ecreager@freepress.com
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(c) 2010, Detroit Free Press.
Visit the Freep, the World Wide Web site of the Detroit Free Press, at http://www.freep.com.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
Why are tourism officials concerned? The DR shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.
The DR was unaffected by the earthquake, but if tourists stay away, the country will be swept up in the island's woe.
"Some travelers who have not been there before don't understand the geography," says Vanessa Welte, spokeswoman for the DR Ministry of Tourism. "Others are seeing the 24-7 TV coverage and want reassurance."
Many relief workers and supplies are entering Haiti via the southwest DR, but the resort areas, cruise port and airports far to the north and east are unaffected, and airports that tourists use are near those resorts. For instance, Punta Cana is 400 miles and a 10- to 12-hour drive away from the Haitian border.
The DR is one of the most popular tourist nations in the Caribbean, including destinations such as Punta Cana, La Romana, Samana and Puerto Plata.
Where are the busy disaster relief areas?
The Maria Montez International Airport in the country's southwest is open but being heavily used for military disaster relief flights, Welter says. The nearby town of Barahona is operating as a staging center. It is on the road to the Haitian border and "there aren't a lot of tourists over there," she says.
The La Isabela regional airport in the country's capital city, Santo Domingo, also is seeing a lot of activity related to disaster aid.
Dominican Republic-bound tourists should check with their travel providers and make a decision. Is it ethical to be vacationing when others are suffering? Or will your visit help support the DR's economy at this critical time?
I'd say, go. Don't let the DR become a secondary casualty.
------
Joe Pratt of Plymouth, Mich., is a member of the million-mile club on United Airlines, giving him lifetime "Premier Executive" status.
But to get in, he actually had to fly a million miles.
And he's skeptical that George Clooney's city-hopping businessman in the film "Up in the Air," whom I wrote about last week, could accumulate 10 million miles.
His point? You can't accumulate such miles through credit cards, meals or hotels as depicted in the movie. You actually have to fly.
Of course, "I'm not as good looking as George Clooney," he says.
Pratt got his million miles by traveling around the world in his job with Ford for 37 years. He was responsible for engine programs as a program manager with both Yamaha and Mazda.
"I started going to Japan in 1981 and went a total of 81 times through 2007, when I retired. I also went to Europe 21 times and Mexico 16 times," he says. He would stay 7-10 days each visit.
"I also have about 650,000 actual flight miles on Northwest, but doubt I'll ever get to their million-mile level," he says.
I gently broke it to Joe that "Up in the Air" was fiction -- although we agreed that maybe if you look like George Clooney the airlines will throw in a few million miles .
------
Ellen Creager: ecreager@freepress.com
------
(c) 2010, Detroit Free Press.
Visit the Freep, the World Wide Web site of the Detroit Free Press, at http://www.freep.com.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
