Comparative Analysis from the Perspective of Tourists in the All-Inclusive System in Cancun, Mexico, and Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

Abstract

The all-inclusive system has been highly developed in different countries of the Caribbean. This paper shows a comparative analysis of two established destinations such as Cancun and Puerto Plata in order to know the sociodemographic profile and valuation of the all-inclusive system of tourists visiting these areas. The main results show the high degree of satisfaction with the trip because of the convenience that this system gives clients and the knowledge of the spending budget prior to the travel. An aspect to improve stands out as the need to strengthen the interaction between the local community and travellers.

Full text

PODIUM Sport, Leisure and Tourism Review | v.7 | n.2 | p. 178-192 | may./aug 2018.
178
e-ISSN: 2316-932X
DOI: 10.5585/podium.v7i2.277
Received: 17/08/2017
Approved: 05/02/2018
Organização: Comitê Científico Interinstitucional
Editor Científico: Júlio Araujo Carneiro da Cunha
Avaliação: Double Blind Review pelo SEER/OJS
Revisão: Gramatical, normativa e de formatação
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF TOURISTS IN THE ALL-
INCLUSIVE SYSTEM IN CANCUN, MEXICO, AND PUERTO PLATA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Francisco Orgaz-Agüera
1
Tomás López-Guzmán
2
José Francisco Domínguez Estrada
3
Manuel Alector Ribeiro
4
ABSTRACT
The all-inclusive system has been highly developed in different countries of the Caribbean. This
paper shows a comparative analysis of two established destinations such as Cancun and Puerto Plata
in order to know the sociodemographic profile and valuation of the all-inclusive system of tourists
visiting these areas. The main results show the high degree of satisfaction with the trip because of
the convenience that this system gives clients and the knowledge of the spending budget prior to the
travel. An aspect to improve stands out as the need to strengthen the interaction between the local
community and travellers.
Keywords: All-inclusive systems. Hotels-resorts. Tourist motivations. Caribbean.
Cite it like this:
Orgaz-Agüera, F., López-Guzmán, T., Domínguez Estrada, J., & Alector Ribeiro, M. (2018). Comparative
Analysis from the Perspective of Tourists in the All-Inclusive System in Cancun, Mexico, and Puerto Plata,
Dominican Republic. PODIUM Sport, Leisure And Tourism Review, 7(2), 178-192.
https://doi.org/10.5585/podium.v7i2.277
1
PhD in Tourism at University of Seville, (Spain). E-mail: franorgaz@utesa.edu, ORCID ID:
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4240-8640
2
Doctor in Economics by the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia - UNED. (Spain). E-mail:
tomas.lopez@uco.es, ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8800-8223
3
Bachelor of Tourism and Researcher in tourism at University of Caribe, (Mexico). E-mail:
fdominguez@ucaribe.edu.mx
4
PhD in Tourism Studies at the University of Algarbe - UAlg, (Portugal). E-mail: m.ribeiro@surrey.ac.uk,
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4484-1082
https://doi.org/10.5585/podium.v7i2.277

Francisco Orgaz-Agüera, Tomás López-Guzmán, José Francisco Domínguez Estrada
& Manuel Alector Ribeiro
PODIUM Sport, Leisure and Tourism Review | v.7 | n.2 | p. 178-192 may./aug 2018.
179
ANÁLISIS COMPARATIVO DE LA PERSPECTIVA DE TURISTAS EN EL SISTEMA ALL-
INCLUSIVE EN CANCUN, MÉXICO Y PUERTO PLATA, REPÚBLICA DOMINICANA
RESUMEN
El sistema todo incluido ha sido altamente desarrollado en diferentes países del Caribe. Este
documento muestra un análisis comparativo de dos destinos consolidados, como Cancún y Puerto
Plata, con el fin de conocer el perfil sociodemográfico y la valoración del sistema todo incluido de
turistas que visitan estas áreas geográficas. Los principales resultados muestran el alto grado de
satisfacción con el viaje debido a la conveniencia que este sistema brinda a los clientes y al
conocimiento del presupuesto de gastos antes del viaje. Un aspecto a mejorar se destaca por la
necesidad de fortalecer la interacción entre la comunidad local y los viajeros.
Palabras clave: Sistemas todo incluido. Hoteles-resorts. Motivaciones turísticas. Caribe.
ANÁLISE COMPARATIVA DA PERSPECTIVA DE TURISTAS NO SISTEMA ALL-
INCLUSIVE EM CANCUN, MÉXICO E PUERTO PLATA, REPÚBLICA DOMINICANA
RESUMO
Análise comparativa do ponto de vista dos turistas no sistema all-inclusive em Cancun, México, e
Puerto Plata, República Dominicana. O sistema all-inclusive tem sido altamente desenvolvido em
diferentes países do Caribe. Este documento mostra uma análise comparativa de dois destinos
consolidados, como Cancún e Puerto Plata, a fim de conhecer o perfil sociodemográfico e a
avaliação do sistema all-inclusive de turistas que visitam essas áreas geográficas. Os principais
resultados mostram o alto grau de satisfação com a viagem devido à conveniência que este sistema
oferece aos clientes e ao conhecimento do orçamento de despesas antes da viagem. Um aspecto a
melhorar é destacado pela necessidade de fortalecer a interação entre a comunidade local e os
viajantes.
Palavras chave: Sistemas com tudo incluído. Hotéis-resorts. Motivações turísticas. Caribe.

Comparative Analysis From The Perspective Of Tourists In The All-Inclusive System In
Cancun, Mexico, And Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
PODIUM Sport, Leisure and Tourism Review | v.7 | n.2 | p. 178-192 | may./aug 2018.
180
INTRODUCTION
Tourism in certain destinations has
meant a strong socioeconomic development,
sometimes even changing their own economic
structure. It is therefore important to analyse,
from the academic point of view, both the
tourist profile to which it is addressed and the
type of offer that is presented at the destination.
In this regard, in recent years in certain
geographical areas a type of offer based on all-
inclusive hotel-resorts where tourists know in
advance the final cost of their trip and where
most of their needs during the trip are covered,
are being developed. This system has spread
across different areas and countries, and in this
sense, it is quite competitive among the various
destinations. The all-inclusive system (AIS)
has its origin in the holiday camps in Britain
during the 1930s and later in the Club
Méditerranée in the 50s of the twentieth
century (Issa & Jayawardena, 2003). But its
great development occurred in the Caribbean,
starting in Jamaica in the 70s of the twentieth
century, complemented further by the image of
sun and sand and hospitality of this geographic
area (Ayik, Benetatos & Evagelou, 2013).
Two of the most popular areas in this
type of tourism in the Caribbean are the State
of Quintana Roo in Mexico and Dominican
Republic. In fact, hotel chains that manage
resorts in these destinations belong mostly to
the same companies, usually European or
American capital and, also, travel agencies
offer these two destinations as competing with
each other with similar prices. The main
problem of this investigation is the ignorance
of the perception of the tourists that visit these
hotels, above all, the lack of knowledge of their
attitudes and motivations. This research is
relevant because, based on the perception of
tourists, new activities complementary to sun
and beach tourism can be generated,
diversifying the offer in these destinations.
The aim of this paper is to present a
comparative analysis of the AIS in the two
consolidated tourist destinations that compete
among themselves, Cancun (Mexico) and
Puerto Plata (Dominican Republic). So, this
paper shows the results of a fieldwork
conducted simultaneously in the two locations
to find the sociodemographic profile of foreign
tourists visiting one of these two areas and the
assessments by AIS tourists of each of these
geographic areas with regard to this system. To
achieve this goal, this article is structured after
this introduction, with a second section where a
review of the existing literature on AIS is
made; a third section that provides a
description of the geographic areas under
study; a fourth section which shows the
methodology used and a fifth section which
presents the results of the research. This paper
ends with conclusions and bibliographical
references obtained.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The AIS is a product aimed at
international tourism markets based mainly on
minimizing currency transactions during the
holidays. The basic features of this system is
based on including in the final price paid by
tourists, which usually takes place in their own
town, lodging, food, drinks and a range of
tourist services (González Herrera & Palafox
Muñoz, 2007) and it works especially in
coastal destinations (Anderson, 2010), which
are characterized by their low public security or
because there is no attractive complementary
offer outside the hotel, especially in catering
and leisure (González Herrera & Palafox
Muñoz, 2007), although in recent years it has
spread to regions where there are a wide
complementary services such as certain areas
in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal),
which has generated considerable debate about
the positive and negative effects of this system
in these geographical areas.
Currently the AIS has great
development in the Caribbean, in different
Mediterranean countries, both European and

Francisco Orgaz-Agüera, Tomás López-Guzmán, José Francisco Domínguez Estrada
& Manuel Alector Ribeiro
PODIUM Sport, Leisure and Tourism Review | v.7 | n.2 | p. 178-192 may./aug 2018.
181
African, and in certain geographical areas of
Africa and Southeast Asia (mainly in Indonesia
and Thailand) (González Herrera and Palafox
Muñoz, 2007), being Europe and North
America the major emitting countries of this
type of tourists (Anderson, 2010), and
fundamentally travellers with an average level
of income (Ayik et al., 2013). Along with this,
the All-Inclusive concept, in addition to coastal
areas in recent years, is also being developed
on cruises (Issa & Jayawardena, 2003) and
through some tour packages (Wong & Kwong,
2004). Scientific literature documents AIS
studies in Jamaica (Smith & Spencer, 2011),
Dominican Republic (Moreno Gil, Celis Sosa
& Aguiar Quintana, 2002), other Caribbean
countries (Chamber & Airey, 2001), Mexico
(González Herrera & Palafox Muñoz, 2007),
Spain (Alegre & Pou, 2006; Anderson, 2012),
Romania (Condratov, 2014), Turkey (Özdemir,
Çizel & Çizel, 2012) and Malta (Chapman &
Speake, 2011).
Among the positive effects of the AIS we
find an increase in revenues of tour operators and
travel agencies, the creation of opportunities for
tourists to travel at a not very expensive and
known in advance price, increased occupancy
rates of resorts, the possibility of introducing
other cultural products through offering
excursions handled from the hotel itself and the
simplification of monetary relations between the
hotel and guests (Alegre & Pou, 2006). And as
negative effects, we find a decrease in the quality
of the tourism product, decreased staff
motivation, lack of interaction between the
tourists, mainly foreigners, and the local
community (Çiftçi, Düzakin & Önal, 2007) and,
furthermore, that this system is not suitable for
small hotels given that hotel needs to have at
least 150 hotel rooms to make the system
profitable (Anderson, 2010). Wong Kwong
(2004) notes that the AIS is well accepted by
tourists travelling from countries with different
cultures as they know the type of resort they will
find in their holiday place, although they are
generally quite dissatisfied with the limited
experience to learn about other cultures in these
trips due to the little or non-interaction with the
local community. Likewise, it can also be a great
disadvantage for those who have a nutritional
diet (Condratov, 2014).
The AIS is primarily a tourist product and
must be defined as such (Alegre & Pou, 2006).
This implies a major change and restructuring of
supply at destination (Alegre & Pou, 2006),
mostly due to the virtual disappearance of the
catering industry as a result of a change in the
flow of services offered at the destination, as the
hotel establishment keeps hold of an important
part of that flow. In that sense, it is essential to
tourist satisfaction finding quality in the hotel
where they stay itself, including the cuisine
offered to tourists in the hotel and the variety of
beverages that are served free of charge at the
hotel itself (Ayik et al, 2013), and not being as
important elements such as cultural, natural,
historical, etc. elements found in the destination
at the time of choosing the resting place of the
traveller (Ayik et al., 2013).
The AIS is being consolidated in many
destinations due to the prospect that consumers
know exactly what they pay before leaving
(Çizel, Çizel, Sarvan & Ozdemir, 2013), the
important role in this system of travel
intermediaries (Çizel et al., 2013) since this type
of product is targeted to different types of
customers such as couples, families, young
people, pensioners, etc. (Çiftçi et al., 2007). Also,
this system is implying an opportunity for
tourism development in Developing Countries
(Çizel et al., 2013), although one of the
fundamental aspects to analyse, and debate are
trade relations between the resorts and the
suppliers of goods and services in the local
community (Anderson, 2010) to determine what
the economic flows that would eventually go into
the local businesses would be.
DESCRIPTION OF THE GEOGRAPHIC
AREA
This research was conducted
simultaneously in two geographical areas,
Cancun in Mexico and Puerto Plata in Dominican
Republic, both located in the Caribbean (Figure
1).

Comparative Analysis From The Perspective Of Tourists In The All-Inclusive System In
Cancun, Mexico, And Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
PODIUM Sport, Leisure and Tourism Review | v.7 | n.2 | p. 178-192 | may./aug 2018.
182
Figure 1. Geographical location of Cancun and Puerto Plata.
Source: Own elaboration
Cancun is a traditional tourist destination
that is located on the Northeast coast of Quintana
Roo in eastern Mexico and whose white sand
beaches are the main attraction. Thus, next to the
beaches, there are 145 hotels, with a total of
30,608 rooms (SEDETUR, 2014). This tourism
destination has been analysed in different
researches, including, inter alia, those related to
the economy (Gormsen, 1982; Torres, 2002), the
origins of tourism (Espinosa-Coria, 2013),
natural disasters (Babinger, 2012) or
accommodation (Lagunas Puls, Ramírez Pacheco
& Sonda de la Rosa, 2014). The emphasis on
academic research to this area is logical given
that Cancun is one of the main destinations
within the State of Quintana Roo. The number of
tourists arriving to different destinations of
Quintana Roo in the period 2012-2013 is shown
in Table 1.
Table 1. Number of tourists in the destinations of Quintana Roo, 2012-2013.
Destination
Year 2012
Year 2013
Difference %
Riviera Maya
3,895,548
4,158,135
6.7%
Cancun
3,642,449
4,093,942
12.4%
Cozumel
445,974
447,747
0.4%
Chetumal
476,465
443,079
-7.0%
Women Islands
180,522
268,360
48.7%
Total Quintana Roo
8,640,958
9,411,263
8.9%
Source: SEDETUR (2014)

Francisco Orgaz-Agüera, Tomás López-Guzmán, José Francisco Domínguez Estrada
& Manuel Alector Ribeiro
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183
As it can be seen in Table 1, in 2013
Cancun received more than 4 million tourists,
reflecting an increase of 12.4% over the
previous year. You may also notice that
Cancun is the second destination in tourist
arrivals in the State of Quintana Roo, only
behind Riviera Maya, although with a very
small difference between destinations
compared to others (Cozumel, Chetumal and
Women Islands). Therefore, from a total of
9,411,263 million tourists arriving in the state
of Quintana Roo, 44.2% came to Riviera Maya
and 43.5% to Cancun. Regarding the hotel
occupancy in Cancun, this destination
increased from 72.5% in 2012 to 76.8% in
2013, representing an increase of 4.3% and
only behind Riviera Maya (81.0%). The
average stay of tourists in this destination in
2013 is 5.1 nights, up by 0.2% to 2012 and still
one day less than in Riviera Maya (SEDETUR,
2014).
Therefore, Cancun is considered one of
the main all-inclusive sun and beach tourist
destinations internationally, one of the most
outstanding in the whole Caribbean since the
opening of its first all-inclusive hotel in 1974
(Babinger, 2012).
The other analysed area is Puerto Plata
in Dominican Republic. The Dominican
Republic is located, along with Haiti on the La
Española island, in the Caribbean (Map 1). In
this country, we can highlight the sun and
beach tourism, especially in the areas of
Bavaro-Punta Cana and Puerto Plata, having
received in 2015 a total of 5,599,859 visitors
(ASONAHORES, 2016), thus confirming its
steady growth. The number of visitors coming
to the country, the number of overnight stays
and tourist daily average expenditure is
presented in Table 2 (expressed in dollars) for
the period 2009-2015.
Table 2. Visitor arrivals to Dominican Republic for 2009-2015
Year
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Visitors
3,992,303
4,124,543
4,306,431
4,562,606
4,689,770
5,141,377
5,599,859
Average daily
tourist
spending (in
dollars)
107.02
107.24
109.11
112.22
n.a.
n.a
n.a
Source: Own elaboration from data of ASONAHORES (2016)
n.a.: Data not available
Table 2 shows that the number of
visitors has steadily increased, as did the
average expenditure of tourists, ranking in
2012, the latest data available, at $112.22 per
day. The area under study is Puerto Plata
(map 1), located in the north of the country.
According to Roessingh and Duijnhoven
(2004), this destination along with Punta Cana
are configured as the two most important areas
for sun and beach in Dominican Republic, both
destinations offering all-inclusive hotels. Thus,
according to these authors, the rise of this type
of tourism in Puerto Plata came from the
eighties of the last century with the
construction of an international airport in this
area, making it accessible to transport tourists
to this destination. In 2013, the airport received
a total of 353,857 visitors (ASONAHORES,
2016), becoming the third most important in

Comparative Analysis From The Perspective Of Tourists In The All-Inclusive System In
Cancun, Mexico, And Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
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184
the country after the airports of Punta Cana and
Santo Domingo.
In this sense, according to data from
ASONAHORES (2016), Puerto Plata had an
average hotel occupancy rate in 2013 of 55.5%,
which is lower than the national average
(71.7%), and the months of January (73.3%),
February (81.1%), March (82.2%) and April
(67.2%) standing out as these refer to the peak
season for this destination. On the other hand,
according to ASONAHORES (2016), the
province of Puerto Plata has 20 hotel resorts of
various international chains, mainly European
and North-American. At these all-inclusive
hotel resorts you can also hire complementary
activities to carry out outside the hotel, with
emphasis on excursions where you visit the
Natural Monument of Damajagua Falls, the
Natural Monument Isabel de Torres, the Ocean
World Adventure Park or the city of Puerto
Plata.
METHODOLOGY
The methodology used in this research
is based on fieldwork carried out in order to
meet the sociodemographic profile and
assessment by foreign tourists visiting two
destinations (Puerto Plata in Dominican
Republic and Cancun in Mexico) in the all-
inclusive system.
The fieldwork consisted of surveys to
tourists who were in the main beaches of the
geographic area of Puerto Plata and Cancun.
These beaches have been selected because
these beaches have received an increased
number of foreign tourists since the major All-
Inclusive hotels of this area are located near
them. On these beaches, there are many hotel
resort and, for that reason and prior to the
completion of fieldwork, previous meetings
were conducted with hotel managers to explain
the purpose of this investigation and to ask for
their collaboration to conduct the surveys in the
different bounded areas that each hotel has on
the beaches.
The surveys were conducted personally
to foreign tourists staying in different All-
Inclusive hotels, and these were recognised by
the interviewers through the appropriate
identification "bracelet" of the hotel where they
were staying. The surveys were conducted with
all resorts and hotels available of the two
destinations. Prior to the completion of the
questionnaire, the interviewer informed the
target tourist of the investigation and requested
their cooperation therein. The questionnaire
was written in four languages (English,
Spanish, French and German), because all the
questionnaires were translated by the
Languages Department of the Technological
University of Santiago (Dominican Republic).
Tourists completed the questionnaire
completely independently and anonymously.
The fieldwork was conducted simultaneously
in the two geographical areas under study, it
developed during the months of March, April
and May 2014 through convenience sampling,
technically commonly used in this type of
research, where Respondents are available to
be interviewed in a period of space and time
(Finn, Elliott-White & Walton, 2000).
The structure of the survey used in this
research is based on various previous studies
(Anderson, 2012; Kozak, 2002; Özdemir et al.,
2012) and addresses three distinct parts: first,
the details of the trip, which sought to know
aspects like the structure of the trip, its duration
or the reason for the visit; second, the opinion
and evaluation of the all-inclusive concept,
analysing the strengths and weaknesses of this
system, and assessing some aspects of the
destination; and third, the sociodemographic
characteristics of tourists. Thus, the total
number of items was 63. A pretest was
conducted on 30 surveys. In total, the number
of valid questionnaires in the Puerto Plata area
was 551 questionnaires, obtaining a confidence
level of 95% and a sampling error of 4.17%;
and in the Cancun area 515, obtaining a
confidence level of 95% and a sampling error
of 4.32%. Table 3 shows the data sheet of the
research.

Francisco Orgaz-Agüera, Tomás López-Guzmán, José Francisco Domínguez Estrada
& Manuel Alector Ribeiro
PODIUM Sport, Leisure and Tourism Review | v.7 | n.2 | p. 178-192 may./aug 2018.
185
Table 3. Technical table of the research
Population
353,857 foreign tourists
4,093,942 foreign tourists
Geographic Area
Puerto Plata
Cancun
Temporality
March-May 2014
March-May 2014
Procedure
Convenience sampling
Convenience sampling
Confidence level
95%
95%
Sampling error
4.17%
4.32%
Valid questionnaires
551
515
Source: Own elaboration
The questions in the questionnaire that
were intended to know the evaluation and
opinions of tourists were answered through a
Likert scale of five points. Questions about trip
details were closed with different possible
answers. Meanwhile, some items related to the
sociodemographic profile of tourist items were
closed, although there were two questions
focused on whether or not to repeat the all-
inclusive experience and their opinion about
this geographical area, which was answered
openly. Cronbach's alpha was 0.818 and is
therefore acceptable, since Nunally and
Bernstein (1994) consider a scale acceptable if
its Cronbach's alpha is above 0.7. The data
from this research have been tabulated and
analysed using the IBM SPSS 22 statistical
system. Media analysis, frequencies,
contingency analysis, p-value and significance
level have been performed.
RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Key data corresponding to the
sociodemographic characteristics of tourists
surveyed in Cancun (Mexico) and Puerto Plata
(Dominican Republic) are shown in Table 4,
which are gender, age, education level, country
of origin and respondent income level.

Comparative Analysis From The Perspective Of Tourists In The All-Inclusive System In
Cancun, Mexico, And Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
PODIUM Sport, Leisure and Tourism Review | v.7 | n.2 | p. 178-192 | may./aug 2018.
186
Table 4. Sociodemographic profile of tourists in Cancun and Puerto Plata
Variable
Variable
Cancun
Puerto Plata
Contingency
coefficient (p-
value)
Gender
Male
Female
44.7%
55.3%
46.8%
53.2%
0.022
(0,479)
Age
Under 30 years old
30-39 years old
40-49 years old
50-59 years old
60 years old or more
31.5%
45.4%
22.7%
0.2%
0.2%
37.0%
36.3%
21.4%
3.3%
2.0%
0.165
(0.000) *
Level of
education
Primary
Secondary
University
0.0%
4.7%
95.3%
0.9%
15.6%
83.5%
0.190
(0.000) *
Country
USA
UK
Spain
Argentina
Canada
Germany
Others
48.3%
36.1%
7.6%
2.9%
2.5%
0.0%
4.6%
42.8%
21.2%
4.2%
0.0%
8.0%
8.3%
15.5%
0.392
(0.000) *
Income
More than $ 2,500
From $ 1,501-2,500
From $ 1,001-1,500
From $ 700-1,000
Less than $ 700
81.1%
11.9%
3.9%
3.1%
0.0%
63.9%
19.2%
13.3%
3.4%
0.2%
0.208
(0.000) *
Source: Own elaboration
* Correlation is significant at level 0.01

Francisco Orgaz-Agüera, Tomás López-Guzmán, José Francisco Domínguez Estrada
& Manuel Alector Ribeiro
PODIUM Sport, Leisure and Tourism Review | v.7 | n.2 | p. 178-192 may./aug 2018.
187
According to Table 4, as for the age
group, it stands out that in both areas they are
under 50 years of age. As for their educational
level, it is mainly emphasized that in Cancun
more than 95% of tourists have a university
degree, 12 points above the tourists surveyed in
Puerto Plata. Similarly, with regard to the
country of origin of tourists, in both areas
Americans and British stand out. As for the
travelling companion/s to the trip, most are
with work colleagues or friends (Cancun,
40.8%, Puerto Plata, 38.5%) and a partner
(Cancun, 32.6%, Puerto Plata, 39, 0%) and
have chosen this destination largely on the
recommendation of the travel agency (Cancun,
39.0%, Puerto Plata, 29.8%) and on the
recommendation of family and friends
(Cancun, 28.3%; Puerto Plata, 22.6%).
Furthermore, in the destination of Puerto Plata,
we can stress the importance of Internet as a
way to know this destination as 30.4% of
tourists surveyed said they have known this
destination via the Internet. On the other hand,
for 73% of respondent tourists, this was their
first visit to Puerto Plata while in the case of
Cancun the percentage was 35.3%. An
association was detected between the
destination and if it was the first visit to that
geographical area (contingency coefficient =
0.353; p = 0.000).
Focusing on the All-Inclusive System,
Table 5 shows the number of times that each of
the respondent tourists had used this holiday
system before this trip.
Table 5. Number of times they had used the AIS
Number of times
Cancun
Puerto Plata
Never
16.3%
31.4%
1 time
33.2%
27.2%
2 times
42.5%
27.7%
3-5 times
8.0%
7.1%
More than 5 times
0.0%
6.6%
Source: Own elaboration
According to Table 5, and in relation to
the times they have used the AIS, 42.5% of
respondent tourists in Cancun pointed that they
had used this system on two occasions while in
the case of Puerto Plata 31.4% said they had
never used it. An association was detected
between the destination and if it was the first
time they used the AIS (contingency coefficient
= 78.964; p = 0.000).
On the other hand, tourists were asked
their opinions about different statements related
to the AIS. Table 6 shows such statements scored
on a Likert scale of 5 points, with 1 being in
strong disagreement; and 5, completely agreeing.

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Table 6. Assessment of different statements related to all-inclusive mode.
Item
Cancun
Puerto
Plata
F
(p-value)
In the all-inclusive system, services that are included in the price,
and those which are not included, should be clearly explained to
the consumer. Thus, consumers are fully aware of the extra costs
that they could have.
4.44
4.42
0.242
(0,623)
The hotels that have a sufficient financial power to implement this
all-inclusive system should not lower the price and quality, because
the system is not a concept that must be applied to each hotel.
4.32
3.75
99.169
(0.000) *
Tourist stays in hotels with all-inclusive systems do not encourage
tourists to go to the city for shopping. Therefore, the increase in
tourism is not reflected in local shops. When tourism is considered
as a whole, it is inevitable that local businesses consider this
system a disadvantage
4.27
4.03
20.167
(0.000) *
Tourists spend all their time in the hotel but blame the whole
tourism system for any failure.
4.22
3.87
42.641
(0.000) *
Tourists who spend all their time in the hotel do not know the
island and therefore do not have enough information about the
social and historical structure of the island, which is a big problem
in terms of advertising of the country itself.
4.21
4.02
14.427
(0.000) *
The all-inclusive system could also cause unfair competition with
other establishments on the island who provide quality service and
who are not in this system
4.21
3.76
66.624
(0.000) *
Hotels implementing the all-inclusive system diminish the quality
of services and goods provided to increase profits. Therefore,
employment is largely unskilled, the salary of the staff is very low
and the quality of goods is declining.
4.20
3.98
20.890
(0.000) *
Source: Own elaboration
* Correlation is significant at level 0.01
As for the opinions of tourists in relation
to the AIS, as it is shown in Table 6, it
emphasizes that they agree with the statement
that consumers know exactly the extra expenses
that they will have during the trip and what is
included in the price that has been paid. In this
sense, this finding supports the conclusion drawn
by Özdemir et al. (2012).
As for the positive aspects of the AIS,
respondent tourists were asked about a number of
issues that are reflected in table 7. The results are
more than 100% since it was a multiple-choice
question.

Francisco Orgaz-Agüera, Tomás López-Guzmán, José Francisco Domínguez Estrada
& Manuel Alector Ribeiro
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189
Table 7. Positive aspects of the AIS
Issues Raised
Cancun
Puerto Plata
This system is very convenient for tourists
77.0%
68.7%
Travellers know the travel budget perfectly well
35.6%
51.6%
The hotel covers all the needs of tourists
34.8%
42.0%
This system provides security for tourists
19.6%
34.4%
This system ensures the quality of service to tourists
0.3%
11.5%
Source: Own elaboration
As for the positive aspects of the AIS,
and in accordance with Table 7, tourists
surveyed both in Cancun and Puerto Plata
indicated as positive aspects that the AIS is
very convenient for tourists and that travellers
know the travel budget perfectly well. These
results corroborate previous results by Alegre
and Pou (2006) and Özdemir et al. (2012).
However, they do not agree, as a positive
aspect, that this system guarantees the quality
of service to tourists. Specifically, this aspect
has also been evaluated in the same direction,
in previous research to obtain a similar result
(Çiftçi et al., 2007; Özdemir et al, 2012.).
As for the negative aspects of the AIS,
respondent tourists were also asked different
questions that are reflected in Table 8. The
results are more than 100% since it was a
multiple-choice question.
Table 8. Negative aspects of the AIS
Question
Cancun
Puerto Plata
The system encourages not leaving the hotel
64.0%
53.1%
The system limits contact of tourists with the local population
52.0%
47.3%
This system does not reveal the real culture of a geographical
area
9.0%
28.2%
Local agents of the destination do not obtain sufficient
benefits from the arrival of tourists to this hotel
6.6%
18.9%
This system may limit the external connections to the hotel
6.3%
31.7%
Source: Own elaboration
According to Table 8, the main negative
aspects pointed by the tourists surveyed in both
geographical areas are that this system
encourages not leaving the hotel and that the
system limits contact with the local population,
an aspect that was also evaluated in the same
direction by Çiftçi et al. (2007). However, at
the destination of Cancun, respondent tourists

Comparative Analysis From The Perspective Of Tourists In The All-Inclusive System In
Cancun, Mexico, And Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
PODIUM Sport, Leisure and Tourism Review | v.7 | n.2 | p. 178-192 | may./aug 2018.
190
do not consider that the AIS does not allow to
know the real culture of a geographical area as
only 6.3% of tourists surveyed in this
geographical area have agreed with this
statement, whereby tourists feel they can also
learn about the culture of this area through
different types of excursions. In this sense,
Cancun, in addition to its beaches, is also
configured as an attractive destination for
knowledge of cultural, natural and historical
elements of the site.
Regarding the assessment on the
different variables related to the hotel where
they stayed, results rated on a Likert scale of 5
points, 1- being the worst; and 5 the best, are
collected in Table 9. In terms of these
variables, we have distinguished between those
that refer to the hotel itself and those that refer
to the environment where the hotel is located.
Table 9. Rating aspects of the hotel
Variable
Cancun
Puerto Plata
F (significance
level)
Inside the hotel
Shows
4.14
3.91
21.827 (0.000)
Customer Service
3.99
3.87
5.916 (0.015)
Food
3.98
3.79
13.000 (0.000)
Beverages
3.98
3.82
8.444 (0.004)
Rooms
3.96
3.77
11.325 (0.001)
Outside the hotel
Beaches
4.20
3.99
21.582 (0.000)
Excursions outside the hotel
4.12
3.88
23.617 (0.000)
Cleanliness of the surrounding area
4.07
3.79
28.801 (0.000)
Commercial Areas
4.03
3.77
23.740 (0.000)
Sports activities
4.02
3.80
19.535 (0.000)
Source: Own elaboration
According to Table 9, what is most
valued by tourists in both destinations of AI
hotels is the shows that are held within the
hotel itself and what is least valued (although
with quite an important valuation as well) is the
actual hotel rooms. On the other hand, with
respect to the surroundings of the hotel's
location, what is most valued by tourists of
both destinations is the beaches, while the least
valued is the sports activities that can be
enjoyed outside the hotel.
About tourist satisfaction with the trip,
rated on a Likert scale of 5 points, being 1-very
unsatisfied; 5-very satisfied, in the case of
tourists surveyed in Cancun, the result was
3.83 and in the case of tourists surveyed in
Puerto Plata the result was 4.05. An association
was detected between the level of satisfaction
and the number of times that the AIS had been
used in both destinations, Cancun (Pearson
Chi-square coefficient = 51,236; p = 0.000),
and Puerto Plata (Pearson Chi-square
coefficient = 88,495; p = 0.000).

Francisco Orgaz-Agüera, Tomás López-Guzmán, José Francisco Domínguez Estrada
& Manuel Alector Ribeiro
PODIUM Sport, Leisure and Tourism Review | v.7 | n.2 | p. 178-192 may./aug 2018.
191
CONCLUSIONS
In recent years, the AIS has developed
and consolidated in various tourist destinations
as a form of tourist enjoyment of holidays
knowing in advance the price of the trip. In this
system, the hotel is a key element since most of
the time tourists stay within their own hotel
establishment where they have all they need to
enjoy their holiday.
In this paper, we present an analysis of
the AIS in two destinations that are consolidated
and that compete with each other, Puerto Plata in
Dominican Republic and Cancun in Mexico. The
results of the research show how tourists
surveyed in both locations show a high level of
satisfaction with the trip made. Furthermore, as
the positive aspect that is most valued by AIS
tourists, it can be highlighted that this system is
very convenient for tourists, while as the negative
aspect, it can be highlighted that this system
provides no incentive to leave the hotel and
therefore limits the knowledge of the local
culture during the trip.
These results can help hotel management,
especially by improving the aspects that
contribute to improving the quality of the service.
Also, you can work from the management of the
hotels in the place of the complementary offer,
once known, the motivations and valuations of
the visitors. These aspects are fundamental to
offer a quality and diversified offer.
We believe that the main limitation of
this research is in the time period in which the
surveys took place given that the results to be
obtained in these time periods may differ due to
different tourist profiles.
As a future line of research, we consider
that there should be an analysis of the
relationship between the all-inclusive hotels,
usually belonging to international hotel chains,
and small and medium-sized local companies
supplying products for hotels.
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