ARTICLE - TOURIST POLICE

A TOURIST POLICE NEXT YEAR
(Haiti Libre) -

Like what exists in many tourist cities worldwide, including in the Dominican Republic, Stéphanie Balmir Villedrouin, the Minister of Tourism, wishes to implement, by next year, a Tourist Police to secure the areas surrounding hotels, restaurants and attractions, and also to provide information to visitors.

"...it is clear that we must arrange the sidewalks of hotels, restaurants... merchants and beggars should not be present when you leave a restaurant, and that you have 5-10 young people who come up to you to ask for money [...]

The Ministry wants to implement an ambitious program, which is the Tourist Police. We are working on that and it will be in my budget for the next fiscal year [...] it is important that we have a security officer, who can reassure the customer, who is able to provide information to him as well; therefore we have this project that we want to implement.

There are Tourist Police in all tourist destinations; this is not something we have invented, but it is clear that we must release our sidewalks [...]there are many people who do not work... there are lots of precarious things[...] we are sure that with the impetus in the tourism industry, we will have investments. As you know, in Petionville there are hotels that will open, and industry, agriculture and other related sectors, will generate jobs; there will be fewer people [unemployed] in the streets [...]"