President Luis Abinader and the Minister of Tourism, David Collado, reported that the Dominican Republic received more than seven million tourists in 2022, a record for the country.
They point out that these records correspond to the number of visitors, cruise passengers, hotel occupancy and generation of foreign currency.
“We are seeing record numbers of visitors, month after month, December was the best month in the history of tourism, surpassing 700,000 visitors for the first time. We broke the record of arrivals, and we are reaching the unprecedented figure of seven million tourists”, said the President, when taking stock of the year that has just ended.
He said that these visits mean foreign exchange worth more than 8,000 million dollars, which he affirms mirrors a growth of local tourism above what other countries in the world are experiencing and strengthens the leadership of this destination, its recovery and strength.
“Our tourism industry is changing and has been recognized as the most resilient in the world,” said the president, who stressed that “this result is thanks to the work of all Dominicans who believe that we can do things properly, in a private sector that decided to work together with the government to achieve recovery in record time, and in a government that works tirelessly and transparently to achieve a better country.”
Growth
For his part, when breaking down the statistical data of the industry in 2022, Tourism Minister, David Collado, said that there were 7,165,387 tourists who arrived on Dominican soil and 1,311,129 cruise passengers registered from January to December. Of the total number of tourists, 765,910 correspond to December 2022.
“We grew by ten percent compared to 2019 (the year prior to the pandemic) in terms of tourist arrivals by air and we grew by twenty percent in terms of arrival of visitors via cruise ships compared to that year, so we reached an unprecedented total of 8.47 million visitors to the Dominican Republic in 2022, thanks to intelligent transparent advertising being carried out in this administration,” Collado said.
He explained that hotel occupancy reached 76% nationwide in December, surpassing that of the same month of 2019, which was 69% and that the busiest destinations were Punta Cana-Bávaro and Romana-Bayahíbe with 79% and 78%, respectively.
Of the December tourists, 58,101 were foreigners and 183,809 are Dominicans. In December, 9% more foreigners arrived than in 2021 and 23% more than in 2019. As for Dominicans, they represent 4% more than in 2021 and 22% more than in 2019.
In addition, 425,000 people arrived by air at Punta Cana airport in December. Meanwhile, in Las Americas airport there were 206,000, mostly coming from the United States, Canada, Colombia, Argentina, and Germany.
By sea, 125,639 arrived through Amber Cove, 46,870 through Taíno Bay, 39,756 through Sans Soucí and 4,598 through Samaná, with 100 operations in total.
They expect growth in 2023
The Ministry of Tourism forecasts for 2023 indicate that the country expects the arrival of 7,922,829 tourists throughout the year. In this regard, President Abinader said that he assumed the commitment to continue supporting the sustainable development of the sector by managing risk-sharing and marketing agreements with the various tour operators and strategic partners in issuing countries, as has the Ministry of Tourism been doing so far within the framework of the relaunch that has implied the recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic. “I have no doubt that, if we work committed and hand in hand, the year 2023 will be the best in our history, but that 2024 will be even better,” he said.
Source:
Diario Libre