Central Bank: Tourism contributes 34% to the economy in the first half of the year
Héctor Valdez Albizu highlights the contribution of tourism to the sustained recovery of the country in the generation of foreign exchange, employment and foreign investment.
The governor of the Central Bank, Héctor Valdez Albizu, highlighted yesterday that the tourism sector contributed 34.3% to the economic growth of the first semester of this year, in terms of value added, making it the activity with the highest contribution in this first semester of 2022.
He pointed out that this sector contributed 1.8 percentage points to the average expansion of 5.6% registered by the economy in the January-June 2022 period, “that is, one third of the growth experienced in the semester, with an increase in its real added value of 34.3%”.
Likewise, Valdez Albizu highlighted that this remarkable performance responds to the arrival of 3,547,143 travelers in January-June of this year, for an increase of 1,649,500 passengers (86.9%) in the first six months of 2022 with respect to the same period of 2021.
He added that this favorable trend was again reflected in the arrival of non-resident passengers received in July 2022, reaching the remarkable figure of 735,064 tourists, breaking records by being the best July ever, according to data announced by Tourism Minister David Collado.
Occupancy
Regarding the average hotel occupancy for January-June 2022, he said that it was 72%, and as of July, 75%.In particular, the governor highlighted the positive effect of the policies to boost the tourism industry implemented by the Tourism Cabinet headed by President Luis Abinader, together with the Ministry of Tourism, to guarantee the stability of the sector and consolidate its reactivation.
In this regard, he mentioned that the implementation of strategies to attract foreign capital investment, expanding the tourist issuing markets in the face of changes in global consumption patterns due to the latent risks in the international environment, would contribute to reach the figure of 7 million non-resident passengers by the end of 2022.
Currencies
Valdez Albizu said that, in terms of tourism revenues, US$4,121.5 million entered the country in January-June 2022, surpassing the amount of US$4,082.9 million received in the same period of 2019, prior to the pandemic, as a reflection of the total recovery that the sector has registered.
He anticipated that, if the recent trend continues until the end of this year, the unprecedented figure of US$8.4 billion would be reached for this concept.
Valdez Albizu said that foreign exchange income from tourism, together with the inflow of remittances, contributes significantly to maintaining a sustainable balance in the current account of the balance of payments and to maintaining exchange rate stability, an important element for generating certainty among economic agents.
Similarly, 31% of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 2021, i.e., some US$960 million, was destined mainly to the expansion and remodeling of tourism infrastructure, with an expected value of close to US$1 billion for this concept in this sector by the end of 2022.
Jobs
Regarding employment, the Governor indicated that preliminary estimates of the Continuous National Labor Force Survey (ENCFT) for the April – June 2022 quarter showed that the total number of employed persons in the economic activity of hotels, bars and restaurants reached 363,334 persons, a higher level than the 337,386 net employed persons of the same period of 2019.
The BCRD governor emphasized that in the last 12 months (April-June 2022 vs. April-June 2021), tourism has been the second activity with the highest generation of workers, with an increase of 62,338 net employed persons, surpassed only by commerce, which had an increase of 99,488 employed persons.
Leading destination
Valdez Albizu considered that, in spite of the global health crisis and geopolitical conflicts, the Dominican Republic has remained the leading destination in terms of tourist arrivals and foreign exchange earnings in the region of the Insular Caribbean and Central America.
Governor Valdez Albizu reiterated that we must bet that the Dominican economy will continue to occupy a top position in terms of recovery, sustained by sectors such as tourism, which generates high foreign exchange, employment and foreign direct investment, contributing to the maintenance of stability in a context of strong macroeconomic fundamentals.
Semester
The arrival of non-resident passengers received in the month of July 2022, reaching the remarkable figure of 735,064 tourists, breaking records by being the best July ever, according to data announced by the Minister of Tourism David Collado.
Stability
Valdez Albizu reiterated that we must bet that the Dominican economy will continue to occupy a top position in terms of recovery, sustained by sectors such as tourism.
Learn More: Economy
