Dominican Republic’s tourism sector has ‘fully recovered’

SANTO DOMINGO.– The Minister of Tourism, David Collado, affirmed that the sector has fully recovered in terms of visitors, after revealing that during the month of March the country received 617,756 non-residents, 229% more than the same month in 2019. and 197% more than the same period of the previous one.

“84% of these non-resident visitors are of foreign origin, and the remaining 16% of Dominican origin. With this result, the first quarter of 2022 closes at 1,714,947 non-residents, the highest since the start of the pandemic,” the official showed when presenting the figures during a press conference at the Embajador hotel in the capital.

As part of this good performance, Minister Collado similarly predicted that this year will close with the annual record arrival of more than seven million tourists.

“Today I can say here, with complete certainty, that tourism in the Dominican Republic has recovered in its entirety and that it is strong, solid and mature,” said Collado when showing the statistical data together with the Technical Vice Minister, Jacqueline Mora.

Detail of the arrival of tourists

Minister Collado stated that 71% of the non-residents who visited the country come from North America and the Caribbean, and 19% from Europe.

53% of the month’s visitors are between 21 and 49 years old. Seen by segment, 23% of foreign tourists were adventurers, 29% adults, 32% families and 16% seniors. Six out of 10 tourists stayed in hotels.

With average stays of 7 nights, the estimated generation of foreign exchange derived from tourist spending increased to US$690 million.

61% of the influx of visitors this month entered through the Punta Cana airport, 22% through Las Américas, 10% from Santiago, 5% through Puerto Plata, 1% through La Romana, and the rest through the Samaná airport.

Tourist satisfaction during March 2022 was 4.4 out of 5 stars and 93% of those surveyed said they would return to the Dominican Republic. 87% of those surveyed have high satisfaction with Dominican beaches.

air space

Preliminary estimates from the Ministry of Tourism suggest that the total incoming commercial flights to the Dominican Republic in March 2022 was 5,100 flights, with an occupancy rate of 76% on more than 200 routes, which did not connect with 159 cities through 160 different airlines. .

hotel activity

In March 2022, 9 out of 10 hotel rooms remained in operation, and of these, 72% were occupied. The guests were 90% of foreign origin. The recovery of the hotel industry has been a widespread phenomenon in all areas of the country, improving between 40 and 10 percentage points, the occupancy of rooms in the different tourist areas of the country showed a visible improvement compared to March 2021. This list It is headed by Romana – Bayahibe, whose hotel occupancy was 85% vs. 41% in March 2021.

Maritime Arrivals

In the first month of 2022, 111,731 unique cruise passengers were received (excluding cabotage) and 1,497 ferry passengers. crew and cabotage, operations by sea to the Dominican Republic in March 2022 were 207,934 passengers, in 97 through 68 cruises (from 38 different cruise lines) and 14 ferries.

Maritime operations were distributed in Amber Cove (25%), Taíno Bay (25%), La Romana (22%), Catalina Island (6%), Samaná (6%), and the rest in Santo Domingo (18%).

2022 estimates

Air ticket reservations made to travel to the Dominican Republic during the remainder of 2022 are 8.9% above the reservations made on this same date in 2019.

“During the entire year, the arrival of more than 7 million non-residents is expected. The next quarters would far exceed the records for 2019,” said Minister Collado.