Last Tuesday, April 28, was a very interesting day for those of us who, back in the nineties, began defending and justifying how Dominican banks should participate in the financing of the then emerging tourism industry driven by the presence of important international hotel groups.
On the day, an interesting meeting was held where attendees were presented with the input and importance of the Dominican banking system’s role in financing tourism development in our country. The presentations were brilliant and demonstrated an interesting and sobering report on the impact of local financing on said development.
In a 20-slide display, Enmanual Cedeño from the Banks Superintendency, eloquently justified the title of the presentation entitled “”Dominican Banking, Strategic Partner of Tourism: Financing and Impact” which began with a challenging phrase: “Tourism is one of the great engines of our economy: bank financing is one of its fuels.” The information offered more than justified the opening statement.
At the end of 2025, Dominican banking, mainly Popular, Banreservas, and BHD, reported a portfolio of DOP $116,980 million to the tourism sector, (US $1860 million). In the last five years (post-pandemic), the credit portfolio for the sector registered a compound annual growth of 10.3%, similar to the commercial portfolio (10.5%).
The sector’s share of the commercial portfolio remains stable between 9.2% and 10.2%, and the delinquency rate of this loan at the end of the first quarter of 2026 is 0.3%, the lowest of the 17 business segments of the system, only surpassed by the public administration (0.2%) and the electricity supply (0.0%).
More importantly, “Loans to the tourism sector are well guaranteed.” Each peso lent has RD$3.13 pesos of taxable guarantee, a position that exceeds that of the rest of the commercial sector.
The good news about the use of investment funds, including pension funds, is that, as of December 2025, investment funds had placed US$1,231 million in the tourism sector, and about 90% (US$1,104 million) comes from pension funds. Banks’ lending to tourism was US$1.86 billion, 66% of the portfolio. Bank loans (US$1,850 million), the stock market (US$1,231 million) and offshore loans (US$202.4 million), totaled US$3,293.4 million.
Today, the setting and economic impact of tourism is more defined and is felt throughout the social fabric. The distribution of profits is never even. Those who make and direct the productive machinery receive more, but for those of us who are awaiting the reward that a pension, this is good news.
Tourism not only impacts and moves resources in the main sectors of the economy, its productive dynamics influence, and feeds the entire social fabric; It also contributes to the promise of a retirement with the basic resources for the difficult days. The statement “Tourism is one of the great engines of our economy: bank financing is one of its fuels” is justified.
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