A British tourist is among the dead. Three others are hospitalised. The Foreign Office has issued its usual warning: exercise caution, avoid overcrowded areas, reconsider travel.
The fire at the Dominican Republic resort was tragic, yes. But it was also a predictable consequence of a globalised tourism industry that treats safety as an optional extra. The real horror is not the flames themselves, but the system that made them inevitable.
We have outsourced our holidays to countries where fire regulations are a suggestion, labour is cheap, and accountability is a foreign concept. The Victorian era understood that progress demanded safety standards. We have regressed.
We chase the sun and forget the cost. The FCO warns, but we do not listen. This is the decadence of the modern age: we trade security for a bargain break and then express shock when the bill comes due.
The Dominican Republic is not the problem. We are. Our appetites.
Our indifference. Our refusal to see that every resort is a gamble. The fire is a mirror: look into it and see the West’s own decay.
