SANTO DOMINGO.- For the first time in history, the Dominican Republic surpassed 7 million tourists in a single year, reaching a total of 7,165,387 from January to December 2022, according to data released yesterday by the Minister of Tourism, David Collado, who presented the statistics for the past year, accompanied by President Luis Abinader.
The figure rises to 8.5 million foreigners when cruise ship visitors are included.
Collado reported that last December was the best month in the history of Dominican tourism, with a total of 765,910 visitors.
Abinader considered that the results are the fruit of the transparent, planned and determined work of his government to achieve an extraordinary recovery for the country's main industry, an example to the world.
“Our tourism industry is changing. Today it is recognized as the most resilient in the world. This result is thanks to the work of all Dominicans who believe we can do things right. It is thanks to a private sector that decided to work alongside the government to achieve recovery in record time. And it is thanks to a government that works tirelessly and transparently to build a better country,” the president emphasized.
Collado explained that, in addition, 2022 saw a record number of cruise ship visitors to the country, totaling 1,311,129 cruise passengers last year.
“We saw a 10% increase in tourist arrivals by air compared to 2019. Likewise, we experienced a 20% increase in cruise ship arrivals compared to that year. Consequently, we reached an unprecedented total of 8.47 million visitors to the Dominican Republic in 2022. This is thanks to the intelligent and transparent promotional work we are doing in this administration,” the official stated.
Travelers:
In December, the airport with the highest number of tourist arrivals was Punta Cana, with over 425,000. It was followed by Las Américas International Airport with 206,000 tourists. The United States was the number one source of tourists to the Dominican Republic, followed by Canada, Colombia, Argentina, and Germany.
Another record-breaking figure presented at the event was that, for the first time, the tourism sector generated more than $8 billion in foreign exchange, according to preliminary data that is pending confirmation by the Central Bank, but is estimated at $8.6 million in foreign exchange.
Hotels
Regarding hotel occupancy, it was reported that it reached 76% nationwide in December 2022, surpassing the 69% occupancy rate recorded in 2019 prior to the pandemic. The destinations with the highest occupancy rates were Punta Cana-Bávaro and Romana-Bayahíbe, with 79% and 78% respectively.
