Dominican Republic present at the Milan International Tourism Exchange

OPT Italy: ”“There is a great desire to leave and international trends confirm that travelers are looking for destinations, even long-distance ones, immersed in nature, with a wide range of places away from the crowd”

The Tourism Promotion Office (OPT), of the Ministry of Tourism of the Dominican Republic (Mitur) for the Italian market, has confirmed its participation in the next edition of the BIT (Milan International Tourism Exchange), to be held from April 10 to 12.

The presence of the Dominican Republic in this fair event, which is one of the most important in the European nation, confirms the country’s interest in the Italian market, one of the main markets on this continent, and also represents a good opportunity to get in touch with potential buyers, as well as to keep up to date with news.

On this occasion, Colonial Tours, an Italian-Dominican DMC that has been working in the Italian market for years, will be present at Fieramilanocity, Hall 4 stand A104 as a co-exhibitor.

The Dominican Republic is committed to a recovery of tourism in the main international markets and this is confirmed by the positive data for the destination.

In 2021, some 4,995,412 tourists from all over the world chose this Caribbean destination.

2022 also started with the best auspices: in February alone, the country received 566,235 non-resident foreign tourists, registering +268% compared to February 2021 and +101% compared to February 2020.

More than 60% is made up of American tourists (proximity market) while 31% corresponds to Europe, including Italy; 9% corresponds to tourists arriving from South America.

Other indicators that show the recovery of tourism in the Dominican Republic are hotel occupancy and room reservations. In March, the attendance rate reached 90%, surpassing that of 2021.

The five main tourist destinations in the country (La Romana Bayahibe, Punta Cana, Puerto Plata, Samaná and Santo Domingo) registered occupancy rates above 70%. In addition, the
number of room reservations in early March 2022 is even higher than in the pre-pandemic period.

Neyda García, director of the OPT for this market, has expressed: “We hope that Italians continue to travel to our country, because the Dominican Republic is considered one of the safest tourist destinations in the Caribbean area.”

»We hope that much attention will be paid to the great natural heritage that this island nation offers, made up of isolated places to reconnect with nature, such as parks, extensive beaches, lagoons, bays, forests and the possibility of an “active” vacation dedicated to sport and to the healthy lifestyle, easy to enjoy green vacations in extreme safety”, he highlighted.

“The Dominican Republic has always opted for family tourism, although before the pandemic there was a lot of focus on incentive tourism, and the luxury segment, as well as, in sports, linked to golf, thanks to the numerous greens in the island, without forgetting ecotourism, a very growing trend.

Let us remember that it is easy to see whales in our seas in a few months of the year, an exciting spectacle. From the data we have, corresponding to a market survey, we can say that more than 4 out of 5 tourists want to do ecotourism in the Samanà and Barahona areas, while 84% love our beaches. The number of repeaters is also interesting: 91% of those who have already been to the Dominican Republic say they want to return on vacation”, concludes Neyda García.

The Dominican Republic was considered a success story in responsible tourism management. Several international organizations, including the World Tourism Organization, have praised the country’s ability to respond and relaunch tourism based on rigorous security protocols that protect the health of visitors and locals.

In addition, the tourism model has been rethought to make it more sustainable, with the signing of important environmental protection agreements, a recovery plan for the island’s beaches and greater attention to the digitization of services. Among these, the introduction of the e-ticket, an electronic form of
entry and exit that replaced the paper forms that travelers had to fill out to enter the country.