In the Dominican Republic, eight out of every 10 dollars earned from tourism remain in the country and 60% of all profits have been reinvested.
These are two of the main conclusions of the study “Dominican Tourism: a decade of contributions 2009-2019”, a research presented by Banco Popular Dominicano and the Association of Hotels and Tourism of the Dominican Republic (Asonahores), which provides objective knowledge about the strength and potential of Dominican tourism and its leadership in the region.
According to the research prepared by the economic intelligence firm Analytica, during the study period, the accumulated inflow of foreign exchange generated by travelers’ spending plus investment in tourism reached US$68,217 million of which 82% remained in the country, taking into account outflows from imports, foreign advertising and investment profitability.
Accumulated foreign investment in the sector exceeded US$5,207 million, representing 20% of total foreign direct investment in the country during the ten years covered by the research, and 30% for the last five years.
This massive inflow of resources into the Dominican economy is explained by the fact that visitor arrivals during the decade exceeded 65 million, 7.5 million in 2019, with a total expenditure of US$63 billion.
This represents an increase of 68% in the period. Meanwhile, cruise activity alone increased by 121%, while air arrivals were double those seen in the rest of the Caribbean.
The increase in visitor flow drove an increase of 16,372 rooms over the last decade, which reached 82,221 in 2019. At the same time, hotel occupancy increased by more than 11 points, rising from 66% in 2009 to 77.5% in 2018, pre-crisis.
The growth of the Dominican Republic’s gross domestic product (GDP) generated by tourist demand presented an average growth of 8.01%.
Private activities directly or indirectly linked to tourism accounted for 13% GDP.
Tourism contributed more than RD$400 billion in taxes, an average of 1.28% of GDP each year, and is the main support of the balance of payments, contributing to the accumulation of international reserves.
