In January, 500K tourists traveled to the Dominican Republic
According to Minister David Collado, in January of the current year, 530,956 non-residents arrived in the country, which is the equivalent of 129% more than the previous year, where 82% were of foreign origin.
Despite the cancellation of flights from the United States to the Dominican Republic due to the snow storms that affected the country’s East Coast, in January 2022 the arrival of non-residents remained above half a million tourists, as in the months of 2021.
Collado, gave these statements at a press conference, where he stated that the projection expected for the end of this year is the arrival of 7 million visitors.
Also, he spoke about the emergence of the Ómicron variant and the tightening of the measures affected the arrival of Canadians to the country, this did not stop non-residents from the rest of the world, which registered a historical maximum of 245,301.
Along the same lines, the Punta Cana airport concentrated 55% of the total arrivals of non-resident visitors during January 2022. The airports of Las Américas, Santiago and La Romana remained above the figures for January 2021.
60% of tourists stayed in hotels, with an average stay of 11 days. The tourists received in January 2022 were mainly from the family and adult segments.
In a matter of preliminary estimates from the Ministry of Tourism (Mitur) they suggest that the total incoming commercial flights to the Dominican Republic in January 2022 was 5,120 flights from 149 different airlines from 169 different airports.
9 out of 10 hotel rooms remained in operation, and of these, 73% were occupied. The guests were 89% of foreign origin. Hotel occupancy in the Dominican Republic already resembles occupancy levels characteristic of pre-pandemic years. In the words of the minister “the recovery of the hotel industry has been a widespread phenomenon in all areas of the country”
By sea, 165,516 maritime arrivals were received, of which 1,379 were ferry passengers and 75,022 crew members.
Starting the year with two hotel project approvals totaling US$34 million and 267 rooms, increasingly lax border restrictions, and room reservations per night 19% above 2019, it is expected that by 2022 the arrival of more of 7 million tourists (9% more than in 2019 and 7% higher than 2018).