The Dominican Republic received 476,575 tourists last August, up to 96% of the number of travelers arriving in the country in that month of 2019.
The Minister of Tourism, David Collado, has highlighted that this number represents more than three times the number of tourists arriving in the Caribbean country in August 2020, a time when the borders, which were closed at the beginning of the pandemic, had just been reopened.
This year, up to August, 2.9 million tourists have arrived in the Dominican Republic, which is ‘almost double’ the data for the same period in 2020, being 37% lower than the 2019 figure.
The improvement in August is mainly supported by the recovery of European issuing markets. Here the case of Spain stands out, with 14% more tourists than in July; France, which grew by 22%; and Germany, 21%.
As regards hotel occupancy, last August it reached 64.6%, with 85.2% of the hotels in operation; occupancy reached 77% in Punta Cana, the main tourist center of the country.
The Dominican Ministry of Tourism also projects a strong increase in flight and hotel reservations in the last quarter, which may lead to close the year with 4.8 million tourists, a figure that ‘could never have been imagined’ to be reached in 2021, said Minister Collado.
