In the last month of 2021, the Dominican Republic broke the 700,000 monthly tourist barrier for the first time in its history, with a total entry of 728,335 non-residents, the highest monthly rate in the history of Dominican tourism.
“From January to December 2021, 4,995,412 non-residents entered the country, which was the result of the normalization of the influx of tourists to the pre-pandemic level that had been observed since September last year,” the ministry said.
The Cabinet of Ministers indicated that the figures observed in the last month of 2021 represent an improvement of 109% over December 2020, 17% higher than in December 2019, and even positioned 11% higher than in December 2018 of the year.
“Overall, over the past year, 77% of non-residents received from January to December 2019 have recovered,” he added at a meeting led by President Luis Abinader, Minister of Tourism David Collado and President of Asonahores Rafa Blanco Tejera at the El Embajador Hotel, a Royal Hideaway.
The union explained that in a continuous daily survey conducted by Mitour, more than 16,000 tourists showed satisfaction equivalent to 4.4 stars for a destination, with 5 satisfaction for honeymooners. 93 out of 100 tourists are vaccinated
As for the arrival of non-residents in 2021, among them 74% were foreigners (536,001 non-residents born outside the Dominican Republic), and the remaining 26% were Dominicans (192 334 non-residents born in the Dominican Republic).
“The recovery of tourism in early 2021 was led by absent Dominicans, who from the end of 2020 have already started arriving in the country at the same rate as in 2019. However, for the fourth consecutive month, the arrival of non-resident foreigners is also showing rates higher than those observed in pre-pandemic period; in fact, in December 2021, 127% of non-resident foreigners arrived in December 2019, “he said.
The data presented also show that December 2021 recorded the highest number of non-Dominican non-resident arrivals on record.
“By ports of entry, the market share that Punta Cana Airport continues to conquer, which – with 50% of total non-resident arrivals in December 2021 – is 23% higher than the level of December 2019 – is allocated. Airports Punta Cana, Las Americas, El “Sibao and Puerto Plata are also recovering in terms of non-resident arrivals,” he explained.
In addition, it is explained that “the international lifting of migration restrictions has contributed significantly to the recovery of Dominican tourism.” In the analyzed month, tourists from 165 different countries arrived in the country; In addition, 64 of our most significant issuers (those with more than 100 passengers in December 2021) have already surpassed the figures for December 2019, and 56 of them have reached historic highs.