Last November was the best month in the history of tourism in the Dominican Republic with the arrival of 519,349 visitors to the country, which represents 197 percent more than the same period in 2020, according to figures presented this Sunday by the Minister of Tourism , David Collado.
Collado said that the country registered the arrival of 4,263,259 non-resident visitors in the last eleven months of this year and a “historic November” of 519,349 tourists. He estimated that by the end of the year 4.9 million tourists will have arrived in the country.
He affirmed that during the eleventh month of this year it registers an improvement of 197% compared to the same period of 2020, being 12% higher than November 2019, and even, positioning itself 7% above November 2018, which to date had been the best November in the history of local tourism.
He said that to date 73 percent of the non-resident travelers received between the period from January to November 2019 have recovered. In this penultimate month of 2021, the equivalent of 111 percent of the non-resident foreigners who arrived in November arrived. 2019
“Every time this process of recovery of our tourism is more solid and evident, as shown by these numbers that we present to you today,” said the official, who also predicted a “formidable” closure this year as well.
The arrival of non-residents in 2021 was 82 percent of foreigners (424,560 non-residents who were not born in the Dominican Republic) and the remaining 18% of Dominicans (94,790 non-residents who were born in the Dominican Republic.
The recovery of tourism was led at the beginning of 2021 by the absent Dominicans, who, since the end of 2020, were already beginning to arrive in the country at the same rate as they did in 2019. However, for the third consecutive month, the arrival of Non-resident foreigners also show figures higher than those seen in the pre-pandemic era.
The country’s hotel occupancy is at 73 percent, according to the official.
According to the port of entry, 53% of the total arrivals of non-residents arrived through the Punta Cana airport during November 2021, it is 16% above the levels of November 2019. The three main Dominican airports are recovered in terms of arrivals of non-residents (Punta Cana, Las Américas and El Cibao).
Collado stressed that the international dismantling of immigration restrictions has contributed greatly to the recovery path of Dominican tourism.
The arrival of foreign residents in Canada has gone from being less than 1,000 passengers before July 2021, to climbing to more than 40,000 tourists in November 2021.
“This is how other countries stand out, which, with practically zero arrivals during restrictive migratory periods, have notably awakened ─Russia with more than 47,000 tourists and Germany with more than 22,000 tourists─”, he reported.
Regarding the new variant of COVID-19, the omicron, Collado said that in the next few days the Tourism Cabinet will meet with the Health Cabinet and that they will inform the new measures that will be taken, but recalled that the flights with South Africa are suspended and the protocols carried out by the sector to protect the industry.
He highlighted the low rates of positivity among visitors to the country’s hotels in tests that they do regularly that do not exceed one percent. He said that 85 percent of tourists entering the country are vaccinated.
