- The local industry remained competitive in a period when there were fewer air arrivals in the region.
In a regional context marked by a decline in tourist air arrivals from North America and Europe, the Dominican Republic remained among the three most visited countries in Central America and the Caribbean between January and February 2025.
According to the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD), the arrival of non-resident foreigners by air grew 0.16%, going from 1,498,061 passengers in 2024 to 1,500,579 in 2025, in the first two months of each year. This puts Quisqueya as the third tourist destination that recorded positive figures among its competitors, only surpassed by Colombia – whose air arrivals grew 7.79%, going from 736,362 non-resident foreigners in January-February 2024 to 793,782 in January-February 2025 – and Panama – with an increase of 4.02% after the arrival of 371,315 international tourists. 14,357 more than the 356,958 who entered in the same period last year.
Dominican tourism showed signs of resilience during this period, with an offer that remained attractive for travelers despite the slowdown in air arrivals that affected the main countries that compete directly with the destination, such as Cuba (-27.60%), Cancun, Mexico (-9.05%), Bahamas (-3.89%) and Costa Rica (-4.27%).
Jamaica, another important destination in the region, received 238,556 tourists in January of this year, a decrease of 3.33% compared to the 246,791 foreigners who arrived on the island in the same period of 2024, according to the most recent data from the Ministry of Tourism of that country.
It should be noted that the Dominican Republic is the second most popular destination for international tourists, after Cancun, the most visited in the Mexican Caribbean, which recorded the entry of 3,755,093 non-resident foreigners through the Cancun International Airport, in the first two months of the year.
Cuba, the most affected
Cuba registered the most drastic drop in tourism in the region, after the arrival of 570,271 tourists in January-February 2025, a contraction of 27.60% compared to the same period in 2024, when 787,735 passengers arrived by air. Legal restrictions on travel to this destination, coupled with an increasingly aggravated internal crisis, have discouraged the arrival of foreigners from Russia, Germany, Canada and the United States, four of the main countries of origin to this destination.
Fewer tourists
When comparing the official data published by the tourism authorities and the statistical institutes of each country, we can see that 3,755,093 foreigners arrived in Cancun by air.
This is 373,792 fewer travelers than the 4,128,885 registered in January-February 2025, meaning a decrease of 9.05%, attributed to restrictions that complicated the entry of South American tourists.
Both Costa Rica and the Bahamas also recorded a decline in air arrivals from Europe, one of their main source markets.
537,485 tourists arrived in Costa Rica during the first two months of the year, a drop of 4.27% compared to the 561,864 in the same period of 2024, while the numbers for Bahamas reached 286,145 tourists, 3.89% less than the 297,743 passengers registered in February last year.
Air arrivals in March
819,976 non-resident foreigners arrived in the DR in March, an increase of 10.71% compared to February (which registered 740,650 passengers), but 14,007 passengers less than the 836,502 compared to last March, a variation of -1.97%.
Thus, the country closed the first quarter of the year with the arrival of 2,320,555 passengers by air, a drop of 0.59% compared to 2,334,562 who arrived in the first quarter of 2024.
The decrease was influenced by the Easter holiday, which fell in March last year as opposed to April this year. The BCRD indicated that the Ministry of Tourism maintains “active advertising” to increase arrivals from South America and counteract the drop in the influx of North American foreigners in the country.
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