SANTO DOMINGO.- With 75.8%, July concluded as the month with the highest hotel occupancy rate in the Dominican Republic last year, according to the Tourism Intelligence System (SITUR) of the Ministry of Tourism.
September, with a 59.9% occupancy rate, represents the month with the lowest stay. Hurricane Fiona prevented more than 40,000 tourists from entering the country due to the suspension of international flights.
“"We can estimate that some 40,000 to 45,000 foreigners stopped arriving in the Dominican Republic as a result of Hurricane Fiona and the suspension of flights," Tourism Minister David Collado told the media on September 27.
According to SITUR figures, February is the second busiest month in hotels with 75.3% occupancy; followed by August with 74.1%, April is in fourth place with 73.6%, followed by November with 72.9%; March and December have the same occupancy levels with 72.1%.
In January 2022, Dominican hotels had 71% occupancy, June 70.3%, May 67.3%, while October was 63.5%.
December by zones
In December, the average occupancy rate of the various destinations totaled 78.7%, according to SITUR, which states that the Punta Cana tourist destination had the highest occupancy rate during the last month of the year, reaching 78.7%, followed by Romana-Bayahibe, where 78.2% occupancy was recorded.
Next is Samaná where 58.1% of extended rental rooms were occupied, followed by Sosua-Cabarete at 57.2%, Puerto Plata at 56.7%, Santiago at 54.9%, Greater Santo Domingo at 52.8%, while the tourist area of Boca Chica received 47.4% occupancy in its hotels.
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 with 206,000 tourists.
As for countries, the number 1 source of tourists for the Dominican Republic was the United States, followed by Canada, Colombia, Argentina and Germany.
Last week, President Luis Abinader, along with the Minister of Tourism, David Collado, presented the figures for the number of tourists who arrived in the country during 2022, highlighting that the figure exceeded 7 million non-resident visitors, reaching a total of 7,165,387 from January to December 2022.
