SANTODOMINGO – In the first eight months of 2023, the Dominican Republic received 7,079,991 visitors, representing a 25% year-over-year increase. In August alone, 784,284 non-resident foreigners arrived in the land of merengue by air and cruise ship.
Of the tourists who have visited the Dominican Republic this year, 78.32% arrived by air, totaling 5,544,778 people, while 1,535,213 arrived as cruise ship passengers. The latter number has increased by more than 20% compared to the same period in 2022.
“Surpassing the 7 million visitor mark in just eight months is a true record. In the Dominican Republic, we should feel proud, because we did it again,” said David Collado, Minister of Tourism, while presenting his traditional monthly report on the performance of the tourism sector in August, an event held at a hotel in the Dominican capital.
He explained that of the 784,284 visitors in August, 665,082 arrived by air and 119,202 by sea, of which 114,797 were cruise ship passengers and 3,061 were ferry passengers. 555,159 air passengers were non-resident foreigners, representing an 11% year-over-year increase, while the number of non-resident Dominicans arriving in the country during that period was 109,923, a decrease of 8%.
“We’re talking about receiving 7,079,991 visitors in 8 months, 31 percent more than in 2019, 136 percent more than in 2021, and 25 percent more than last year. If this isn’t a record, you tell me what is,” the official said.
The arrival of cruise ship passengers continues to rise. Vice Minister Jacqueline Mora stated that the country's projection is to surpass two million cruise ship passengers. From 2017 to 2019, the average number of cruise ship passengers was just over 700,000. Collado emphasizes that "the figure has doubled" to 1,535,213. "The Dominican Republic, which was previously behind Jamaica and the Bahamas, is projected to become number one in the entire region for cruise tourism this year," she highlights.
Countries
The United States leads the flow of tourists this year, representing 50.7% of non-resident foreigners who have visited the Dominican Republic up to August, with New York and Miami being the cities from which most departed to the country.
Canada follows with 9.3%; Colombia is in third place with 5.1%; followed by Spain (5.0%) and the United Kingdom (3.1%).
David Collado believes that the Dominican tourism sector is currently experiencing a boom and reiterated that the long-awaited goal of 10 million visitors will be reached by the end of the year.
