Dominican Republic exceeds pre-pandemic tourists arrivals
The arrival of non-resident foreigners to the Dominican Republic reached 349,379 tourists at the end of October 2021, which represents an increase of 25.9% compared to the previous month and 18.7% when compared to October 2019, before of the coronavirus pandemic.
The data, contained in the Sectorial Panorama report of the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development corresponding to October 2021, reveal that the number of tourist cards sold experienced a monthly increase of 5.8% and 15.9% compared to 2019, in line with the increase in passenger arrivals.
Regarding the nationality of the tourists, 28.9% were Americans, with 6,000 more visitors from this source compared to September, and the arrival of Russian visitors (26.40%), Canadians (9 , 10%), French (8.35%) and Germans (3.59%).
According to the Tourist Intelligence System (Situr), the open hotel occupancy rate increased 3.9 points compared to last month, being Sosúa – Cabarete (north), with 5.8 points, Bávaro-Punta Cana (east), with 5 , 1 and La Romana – Bayahíbe (east) with 4.7 points, which show the highest growth in employment.
The text, which covers economic activity in the agricultural, industrial and service sectors, also highlights the evolution of employment in the country, with a total of 2,124,733 active workers registered in the Dominican Social Security System in October 2021.
This translates into the incorporation of more than 236,000 formal employees in the last 12 months, and 25,727 formal workers in relation to September, figures that represent the total recovery of people who were left out of the system in the months of April and May of 2020 because of the pandemic.
The report maintains that, so far this year, the number of formal workers registered a variation of 10.7% (204,000 additional employed persons), dynamics that is explained by the activity of hotels, bars and restaurants, commerce and other services.
Commerce also registered an increase, according to the report, which puts total sales deflated at 16,000 million pesos (about 281.74 million dollars), which represents an increase of 12.4% when compared to October 2020, and of 5.8% compared to October 2019, exceeding pre-pandemic levels.
In the agricultural sector, the volume of production of agricultural goods fell by 23.1%, however, exports corresponding to this segment grew by 4.5% compared to October 2020, with a nominal value of 55.2 millions of dollars.
Also in industrial manufacturing there was a monthly decrease of 8.3 points and 10.1% year-on-year, however, exports in this line amounted to 122.5 million dollars, with a year-on-year increase of 21.3%, points to document.