David Collado: Tourism reaches record growth figure in October

The Minister of Tourism, David Collado, highlighted this Monday the record growth reached by the sector in October, with the arrival “Historic” of 443,018 non-resident visitors.

It also reported that in the January-October period the country received 3,669,761 non-resident passengers.

“The recovery of our tourism is constant and solid. Today I announce to you that October registered the highest growth of that month in history ”, said Minister Collado when presenting the figures for the month of October at a press conference at the Intercontinental hotel.

He affirmed that with the arrival of 443,018 non-resident visitors, a total recovery of the influx of tourists received before the Covid-19 pandemic (punctually October 2019) is evidenced.

“In fact, tourist arrivals during this month exceeded the records of October 2019 by 19% and those of October 2018 by 7%,” he said.

The arrival of non-residents was made up of 79% by non-resident foreigners and the rest (21%) by non-residents born in the Dominican Republic. Foreigners were mainly of North American (44%) and European (35%) nationalities.

Non-resident Dominicans arrived in October 2021 were equivalent to 120% of the registrations of October 2019, while non-resident foreigners arrived in October 2021 were 119% of the total influx of October 2019.

The arrival of non-residents through the airports of Punta Cana, Las Américas, El Cibao, La Romana and La Isabela (which accounted for 96% of arrivals for the month of analysis) in October 2021 also exceeds the records of October 2019.

The recovery of tourism seen by issuing country shows that most of our main emitters have exceeded the arrivals of October 2019. Cases such as Russia stand out, which, ranking third in influx of tourists to the country during October 2021, reached a historical maximum arrivals (49,521 tourists or 264% the 2019 level). On the other hand, it is found that Canada is once again positioned within the top 3 of emitters of Dominican tourists.

Characteristics of tourists – airway

29% of the tourists received in October 2021 were of American nationality, 57% stayed in hotels, 48% entered through the Punta Cana airport and 57% were between 21 and 49 years old. The average stay of our tourists is 7 days.

Air space

Preliminary estimates from the Ministry of Tourism indicate that the total of incoming commercial flights to the Dominican Republic in October 2021 was 3,795 with an average occupancy of 75%.

During the tenth month of the year, approximately 115 airlines were received from 122 different airports located in 45 countries.

Maritime arrivals

After carrying out 18 cruise operations ─made by 15 ships, three of which touched two Dominican ports on the same trip─ in October 2021, a total of 34,396 unique cruise passengers entered Dominican waters (52% more than in September). These cruise passengers arrived through 6 cruise lines (3 more than in previous months) other than the ports of La Romana and Amber Cove, and they were 99.9% of foreign origin.

Jobs and economic activity

During the month of September 2021, formal Dominican employees amounted to 181,078 distributed in 7,970 companies. The sector’s labor market experienced variations of 86,457 in terms of employees compared to the September 2020 record, and 1,781 companies.

The growth in the number of jobs was registered mainly in lodging establishments (+41,468) and in establishments selling food and beverages (+37,391).

Hotel activity

In October 2021, 87% of hotel rooms remained in operation, and of these, 61% were occupied (69% during weekends). The guests were 19% of local origin.