In terms of tourism revenue, the country received $4.1215 billion in January-June 2022, surpassing the $4.0829 billion received during the same period in 2019, prior to the pandemic. If the recent trend continues until the end of this year, the "unprecedented" figure of $8.4 billion will be reached, according to Valdez Albizu.
SANTO DOMINGO– Dominican tourism has emerged as the sector that has driven the greatest growth in the Dominican economy during the first half of the year. The governor of the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BC), Héctor Valdez Albizu, highlighted yesterday that the hotel, bar, and restaurant industry has been the largest contributor to this growth this year.
Tourism contributed 1.8 percentage points to the average expansion of 5.6% recorded by the economy in the January-June 2022 period, that is, a third of the growth experienced in the semester, with an increase in its real added value of 34.3%, Albizu stated.
This "remarkable performance," he said, is due to the arrival of 3,547,143 travelers in January-June of this year, for an increase of 1,649,500 passengers (86.9%) in the first six months of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.
The governor of the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD) considered that this favorable trend was reflected again in the arrival of non-resident passengers received in July 2022, reaching a figure of 735,064 tourists, breaking records by being "the best month of July in history," according to data announced by the Minister of Tourism, David Collado.
Regarding the average hotel occupancy for January-June 2022, he said it was 72%, and in July, 75%.
In a press release, the governor highlighted the "positive effect" that the policies to boost the tourism industry implemented by the Tourism Cabinet, headed by President Luis Abinader, in conjunction with the Ministry of Tourism, have had in guaranteeing the stability of the sector and consolidating its reactivation.
In this regard, he mentioned that the implementation of strategies to attract foreign capital investment, expanding tourist source markets in the face of changes in global consumption patterns due to latent risks in the international environment, would help to reach the figure of seven million non-resident passengers by the end of 2022.
He said that, in terms of tourism revenue, the country received $4,121.5 million in January-June 2022, exceeding the $4,082.9 million received in the same period of 2019, prior to the pandemic, reflecting the full recovery that the sector has registered.
He anticipated that, if the recent trend continues until the end of this year, the "unprecedented" figure of $8.4 billion would be reached for this concept.
Valdez explained that foreign exchange earnings from tourism, along with remittances, contribute to maintaining a sustainable balance in the current account of the balance of payments and to maintaining exchange rate stability, "an important element to generate certainty in economic agents.".
Similarly, he said that 31% of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 2021, or about 960 million dollars, was mainly allocated to the expansion and remodeling of tourism infrastructure, with a value of close to 1 billion dollars expected for this concept in said sector by the end of 2022.
Jobs
Regarding employment, the governor indicated that preliminary estimates from the National Continuous Labor Force Survey (ENCFT) for the April-June 2022 quarter showed that the total number of people employed in the economic activity of hotels, bars and restaurants reached 363,334, a level higher than the 337,386 net employed in the same period of 2019.
He emphasized that in the last 12 months (April-June 2022 vs. April-June 2021), tourism has been the second activity with the highest generation of workers, with an increase of 62,338 net employed, surpassed only by commerce, which had an increase of 99,488 employed.
He considered that, despite the blows that this industry has suffered worldwide due to the global health crisis and geopolitical conflicts, the Dominican Republic has remained the leading destination in terms of tourist arrivals and foreign exchange earnings from this concept in the Insular Caribbean and Central American region.
The governor reiterated that "we must bet that the Dominican economy will continue to occupy a leading position in terms of recovery, sustained by sectors such as tourism, which generates high foreign exchange, employment and foreign direct investment, contributing to the maintenance of stability in a context of strong macroeconomic fundamentals.".
