Until October of this year, 9,283,767 tourists and cruise passengers visited the main tourist attractions of the Dominican Republic. The consumption of each of them in accommodation, transportation, food and excursions to tourist destinations contributed 15,562 million dollars in added value to the Dominican economy.
This was reported yesterday by Ministry of Tourism who, rather than presenting the results, summarized what he called “the tourist trip” by the Dominican economy, interactively explaining how hotels and cruises generate 815,000 jobs direct and indirect throughout the country.
“These are the direct realitiesconcrete and forceful that we present month after month“, expressed the head of the institution, David Collado.
Added to this is the industry activity as such, thanks to which they earned 5,475 million dollars, in addition to contributing 19,984 million pesos in taxes.
This demand has encouraged the expansion of the hotel supply in the country, with the construction of 6,200 rooms that will be added to the more than 87,000 existing.
Of that total, 4,200 have already been inaugurated this year and the rest are expected to be ready in mid-2026.
air arrivals
Of the total visitors, 7,168,505 arrived in the country by air, of which 83% were foreigners and 17% corresponded to Dominicans residing abroad.
only in October they arrived 593,022 touristsfor a growth of 7% compared to the same period in 2024.
The minister highlighted that 60% of the tourists who arrived by plane entered through the Punta Cana International Airportreflecting an increase of 12% compared to last October.
The technical vice minister of Tourism, Jacqueline Morapointed out that 38% came from the United States, a market that registered an increase of 5%. Argentina (29%), Colombia (28%), Peru (23%) and Puerto Rico (12%) stood out as the fastest growing sending destinations in October.
Maritime arrivals
Maritime arrivals accumulated 2,115,262 visitors in the last 8 monthsfor a growth of 0.4%.
Due to the effects caused by Hurricane Melissa – which led to the cancellation of 11 ships – the country experienced a 41% less of cruise passengers in Octoberreceiving 98,051 hikers.
Even so, it represents a 11% more than in 2023 and 51% above 2019, an example of an industry for which a outstanding growth at the end of the year.
The Ministry of Tourism announced yesterday that, to improve mobility in the Colonial City, five units of electric buses would be integrated with which it is planned to carry out a Colonial City-Plaza de la Cultura route, to make it easier for tourists to get to know these two destinations in a single trip.
The announcement was accompanied with the information that the sections of the streets that have been intervened for the renovation of the historic area of Santo Domingo will be open by December of this year, to facilitate traffic and ensure greater dynamism of commercial activities during the Christmas season.
“All the streets of the Colonial City will be open,” said Collado.
