Governor Valdez Albizu highlights tourism leads Dominican economy growth 2022

The Governor of the Central Bank Héctor Valdez Albizu highlighted that the hotel, bar and restaurant activity has been the one with the greatest contribution to the growth of the Dominican economy during the current year. In this sense, he pointed out that this sector contributed 1.8 percentage points to the average expansion of 5.6% registered by the economy in the period January-June 2022, that is, a third of the growth experienced in the semester, with an increase in its value. actual aggregate of 34.3%.

Likewise, he pointed out that this remarkable performance responds 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 of 2021. The Governor added that this favorable trend was reflected again in the arrival of non-resident passengers received in the month of July 2022, reaching the remarkable figure of 735,064 tourists, breaking a record by being the best month of July in all history, according to data announced by the Minister of Tourism David Collado. As for the average hotel occupancy from January-June 2022, he said it was 72%, and in July it was 75%.

In particular, he highlighted the positive effect that the policies to boost the tourism industry implemented by the Tourism Cabinet headed by President Luis Abinader have had, hand in hand with the Ministry of Tourism to guarantee the stability of the sector and consolidate its reactivation. In this sense, he mentioned that the execution of strategies to attract foreign capital investment, expanding the source markets of tourists in the face of changes in global consumption patterns due to latent risks in the international environment, would help to reach the figure of 7 million passengers not residents at the end of 2022.

He said that, in terms of income from tourism, US$4,121.5 million entered the country in January-June 2022, exceeding the amount of US$4,082.9 million received in the same period of 2019, prior to the pandemic, as a reflection of the total recovery that has been registered the sector. He anticipated that if the recent trend continues until the end of this year, the unprecedented figure of US $ 8,400 million would be reached for this concept.

Valdez Albizu specified that foreign exchange earnings from tourism, together with the inflow of remittances, contribute significantly to maintaining a sustainable balance in the current account of the balance of payments and to maintaining exchange stability, an important element to generate certainty in agents. economic. Similarly, 31% of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of the year 2021, that is, about US$960 million, were destined mainly to the expansion and remodeling of the tourist infrastructure, with a value close to US$1,000 million expected for this concept in said sector at the end of 2022.

Regarding employment, the Governor indicated that the preliminary estimates of the National Continuous Survey of the Workforce (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 people. , 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 persons, surpassed only by commerce, which had an increase of 99,488 employed persons.

He considered that despite the attacks 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 for this concept in the region. of the Insular Caribbean and Central America.

The Governor reiterated that it is necessary to bet that the Dominican economy will continue to occupy a top position in terms of recovery, sustained in sectors such as tourism, with a high generation of foreign exchange, employment and foreign direct investment, which contributes to the maintenance of stability. in a context of strong macroeconomic fundamentals.