The Dominican Republic Continues To Break Tourism Records

Courtesy photo.

As the Caribbean’s summer season draws to a close, the Dominican Republic celebrates another highly successful year as a top tourist destination. It has continued to exceed its annual tourism forecasts, welcoming 7 million visitors in the first three quarters of the year – a 25% increase over 2022.

Just over 782,000 tourists visited the country in August, making it the best one in Dominican history. The Caribbean nation is now South America’s second-largest tourist destination, setting a clear benchmark for its neighbors.

Based on past trends and experiences, the Dominican Ministry of Tourism expects to welcome 10 million visitors by the end of the year. This would make 2023 the first time in its history that it has hit double-digits, nearly reaching a one-to-one ratio of tourists to citizens.

ForwardKeys, a leading tourism trend analysis firm, supports this bright outlook as well. Its most recent airline ticketing trends suggest Q4 will see significant growth throughout the Caribbean when compared to 2019, the last pre-pandemic year. The Dominican Republic is predicted to show the highest growth, at 54%. In fact, the Dominican Republic has shown the most post-pandemic tourism growth of any nation in the Americas, with 2023 showing strong signs of achieving a 10% increase over 2019.

The firm’s results also confirm that the United States, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom are responsible for a combined total of 81% of tourism to the Dominican Republic in 2023 thus far. Hotel occupancy data confirms this, with visitors staying an average of eight days.

While air travel remains the method of choice for reaching the island nation, the cruise segment made a strong showing in the first few months of the year and has remained a key element of the Dominican Republic’s current numbers. Over 1.5 million people YTD have traveled through the country’s ports, such as Puerto Plata and La Romana. Starting in December, the new destination of Pedernales will be open as well.

The country’s dynamic and growing tourism sector has retaken its place as a key pillar of the Dominican economy in the post-pandemic world, thanks largely to the foreign currency it brings in and the jobs it creates. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), the Dominican tourism sector will generate 17.5% of national employment and represent 15.3% of its economy by the end of 2023. And, as the sector’s supply chain is almost entirely (90%) made up of Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs), its success and power are reflected in the country’s local businesses as well.

For more information, visit www.godominicanrepublic.com.