In my almost four decades interested in and following tourism issues, I have witnessed how disorder, suburbanization and the disinterest of private and public actors have devoured the future of special places, with all the conditions to produce wealth for the country and for the people.
I have seen it in Santo Domingo, the highway of the Americas, Boca Chica, Juan Dolio, San Pedro de Macorís, La Romana, El Cortesito, Miches, Sabana de La Mar, Samaná, Nagua, Cabarete, Sosúa, Playa Dorada, Santiago, Pedernales, Barahona, Bani, a long list, which in the case of Santo Domingo begins on the boardwalk.
It is an epidemic that destroys the immense potential of tourism, which can give us much more than it already does.
This is what I thought of when I listened to the explanation of the reorganization of services and the use of tourist space in Bayahibe, which will be carried out by the Ministry of Tourism. 50 years ago when I met this place it was an idyllic tourist village, but with the disorderly growth of the popular component in the last 30 years it threatened to destroy part of its potential.
What impresses me the most about the rearrangement is that all the actors are benefited and the most important ones, who are the tourists, gain an excellent space for recreation and use of the beach, it is the most important thing because without them the vendors and the others who earn with their presence will be left with nothing or very little.
The tourists who go to the resorts is something else. there they have order, cleanliness, quality of services and everything is in its place. But even so, if the community part is a mess, it ends up affecting the hotel component, because part of the charm of Bayahibe is the small community and its beautiful public beaches.
To rescue the charm of the public beach area, the car and bus park will be relocated; the artisans who occupy the beach, and annoy visitors with their requests for attention to their articles, will be located next to the beach in an artisan plaza and booths. The food and beverage service will also be reorganized in a plaza. A reorganization of the use of space has been planned. No actor will be eliminated and the infrastructure will be built a few meters from the area where tourists move and close to the place they now occupy.
The beach area that is used for boats that offer marine excursions in the area and to Saona Island and its popular sand banks will also be reorganized. A pier, a dry marina, a place to moor boats and a breakwater will be built. That beautiful place will be rescued for the people without eliminating the tour operation.
Now many here and there are attentive to this and other projects that seek to prevent disorder from devouring unique places like Bayahibe. It is an opportunity to show that if you want you can.
