The tourism sector of the Dominican Republic has a transversal impact on the country’s economy, from the creation of jobs, generation of foreign currency, tax payments and purchases of goods and services.
According to the data supplied by the Ministry of Tourism (Mitur), the sector purchased 288,049 million pesos in the local market during 2022, of which 80% were in services.
In contrast, 17% of tourism purchases went to the agricultural sectorfor an average of 48,968 million pesos and 3% to the industries of the Dominican Republic.
Tourism buys more than 800 million dollars to the Dominican agricultural sector every year.
The sector consumes several agricultural productsamong them:
- meats
- Alcoholic drinks
- Dairy products
- fish and shellfish
- Non-alcoholic beverages
- Fruits
- sausages
- Vegetables
- Eggs
- chickens
- Others
Official data indicates that the 288.049 million pesos in purchases made by the tourism sector in 2022, they represent a growth of 2% compared to 2019.
In addition, the data indicates that during 2022 the direct jobs they recovered by 102%, after placing at 178,155. In 2019, the figure was 172,505 jobs.
2022 report
Last Thursday, the Minister of Tourism, david collado presented the results of the dominican tourism in 2022, where -he assured- “record figures never seen before” were reached.
In the activity, led by the President of the Republic, Luis AbinaderCollado pointed out that “for the first time in the country’s history” more than 7 million tourists were exceeded in one year, reaching 7,165,387 from January to December 2022.
In addition, he indicated that last December was “the best month in the history of the dominican tourism“, exceeding three quarters of a million tourists for the first time, with 765,910 visitors.
Other data provided by the Ministry of Tourism is that in 2022 that sector paid 55,379 million pesos in taxes.
Comparisons since 2019
During 2019, at the Dominican Republic 6,446,036 tourists arrived by air, falling to 2,405,315 in 2020 due to the issue of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, they arrived in the country 4,994,304 tourists by air, while last year 7,165,387 tourists arrived by this means of transport.
If 2019 is compared with 2022, this last year represents a growth of one 11.12%
2019 data
The Tourist Barometerprepared by the Technical Vice Ministry of Ministry of Tourismindicates that during 2019, the arrival of non-resident visitors by air reached 6.4 million, experiencing a slight decrease of 1.9%, equivalent to 122,852 visitors compared to 2018.
The document details that the drop of 1.9% was the net result of the reduction in arrivals of foreign visitors of 260,942 and the increase in the arrivals of non-resident Dominicans of 138,090.
The tourism authorities of the last management explained at that time that the decrease in arrivals of foreign visitors to the country in 2019, was due to the smear campaign broadcast by international media starting in June, as a result of the deaths of American visitors who were vacationing in the eastern part of the country.
