Tourism in the Caribbean rebounded in 2022 after the pandemic with historic figures in the Mexican beaches of Cancun, in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, and an almost total recovery in Colombia, although still lagging behind in Cuba.
In Mexico, the country that concentrates almost half of the international tourism in Latin America, according to the consulting firms Statista and Latinometrics, Quintana Roo had a record of more than 30 million arrivals at the Cancun airport, according to the State Government.
“We closed with a total of 19.7 million tourists, these were people who stayed overnight in our hotels and here we are adding national tourists and international tourists,” detailed Javier Aranda, director of the Tourism Promotion Council of the state of Quintana Roo, where Cancun is located, which captures about 47.5% of international tourism
in Mexico.
Mexico consolidated its position as the third most visited country in the world during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the absence of restrictions, but Aranda stated that many are now “repeat” tourists.
“These tourists, although they have the opportunity to go to other places, have already known the delights of enjoying the different destinations of Quintana Roo and that gives us a great advantage because they want to return to learn more,” said Aranda.
The official explained that there are now almost 127,000 hotel rooms after recovering the investment.
“There were more than 235 restaurants with investments of more than one million dollars in the Mexican Caribbean, from Chetumal to Holbox,” added Marcy Bezaleel Pacheco, state president of the National Chamber of the Restaurant and Seasoned Food Industry (Canirac).
Dominican Republic: “record and exemplary”
The Ministry of Tourism of the Dominican Republic registered 7.1 million tourists by air and 1.3 million by cruise ships, surpassing the pre-pandemic level and reaching record figures in 2022, the year in which the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) recognized it for its “exemplary” tourism recovery.
According to figures from the Tourism portfolio, visitors generated a record 8,671 million dollars to the country last year, with a growth of 10% over 2019 in tourist arrivals by air and 20% in cruises.
Source: Diariolibre.com
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