The Dominican Republic ranked first among the most visited destinations in the world in 2022, according to a report published this month by the travel market research, big data in tourism and business intelligence company ForwardKeys.
The report notes that this year the Caribbean country, which between January and September received more than 5.3 million travelers, saw 5% more tourists arrive this year than in 2019, positioning it as the nation with the best post-pandemic performance.
Behind the Dominican Republic are placed among the world’s most visited destinations Turkey, Costa Rica, Mexico, Jamaica, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Greece, Egypt and Portugal.
FACTORS THAT HAVE BOOSTED TOURISM IN THESE DESTINATIONS
The report points out that the strong representation of Central American and Caribbean destinations at the top of the list is due to the relative strength of the U.S. market, the main issuer of passengers to the Dominican Republic, and to the fact that many of these countries imposed less severe COVID-19 travel restrictions than elsewhere.
The Dominican Republic resumed tourism operations on July 1, 2020 and since then, according to official reports, both tourist arrivals and tourism revenues have continued to increase.
Between January and June of this year, tourism revenues increased by US$2,006.9 million, representing a growth of 93.7% over the same period last year according to the latest Central Bank economy report.
“This performance of the tourism activity has been positively influenced by the Tourism Reactivation Plan led by the Tourism Cabinet, in a joint effort with the private sector, which contemplates the implementation of timely policies aimed at promoting the sustainability of this industry by guaranteeing the protection of travelers in the country in the face of the health situation related to COVID-19, among other measures, to encourage consumer confidence and protect tourists,” explains the official document.
Due to these results, in May of this year, the World Tourism Organization (WTO) recognized the Dominican Republic as the number one country in the world in tourism recovery.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC HAS WHAT TOURISTS ARE LOOKING FOR
The ForwardKeys report indicates that consumer demand for beach vacations has led the reactivation of tourism. This is one of the main attractions of the Dominican Republic and its flagship destination, Punta Cana, whose travel arrivals increased 12%.
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