With the aim of expanding the contributions of the tourism to the economy Dominican Republic, the Dominican Government developed an international promotion campaign, together with the private sector, to stimulate the arrival of up to 11.5 million visitors at the end of 2024.
As of yesterday, the Ministry of Tourism counted the arrival of 10,005,800 travelers both by air and sea, after the arrival of 881,499 visitors only in the month of November.
This is 2% more than last year, marking a positive outlook to reach the goal set just four weeks before the end of the year.
When attending the presentation of the results, the president of the Republic, Luis Abinaderstated that he celebrated “the development“and the “prosperity” that these numbers predict, at the same time that he proposed to the Minister of TourismDavid Collado, raise the bar to 12 million visitors for 2025.
“We can do it because we will continue working together, we will continue with public-private alliances that has given us so many results in these last four years, we are going to continue working to solve each problem in such a way that we can increase the quantity, but also the quality of the experience that the tourists“said the president.
Arrivals in November
only in Novemberthe arrival of foreigners non-residents by air was 667,045, for a growth of 5% in relation to November past.
By sea, the arrival of cruise passengers was 214,454, for a decrease of 7% compared to November 2023. The technical vice minister of TourismJacqueline Mora explained that this occurred due to events atmospheric which caused the cancellation of some expected cruises.
Still, this represented 93% more than the arrival of hikers in 2019, the reference year prior to the crisis derived from the pandemic.
The rate of occupation hotel in November It stood at 74.4%, 1.5 percentage points above the average of the last five years, of 72.9%.
For the founder and chairman of the board of the Puntacana Group, Frank Rainieri, 2025 represents “a great opportunity” to increase tourism development in the country, with the construction of new hotels in destinations such as Miches and Uvero Alto.
The tourist businessman declared Free Diary that the Punta Cana airport, which moves up to 4.8 million tourists, expects to grow 8% more by 2025.
In November alone, this airport concentrated 61% of air arrivals, with 407,748 passengers, followed by Las Américas Airport (148,562, for 22%), Cibao Airport (with 69,565, 10%), Puerto Plata ( 30,960; 5%) and La Romana Airport (5,198; 1%).
Poles in development
Currently, the Republic Dominican Republic has more than 400 hotelswith an offer that exceeds 84,000 rooms tourism, according to the Association of Hotels and Tourism of the Republic Dominican (Asonahores).
Although there are 52 projects ongoing hoteliers covered under Law 158-01 for the Promotion of Tourism Development – with which 11,552 will be created rooms additional -, it is estimated that the flow tourist in the country could double by 2040, which would require many more rooms hotel companies so that the country maintains its market position.
Asonahores estimated that, for every two million tourists, investments of up to 5.6 billion dollars.
In that sense, the president Abinader assured that by 2025 the first hotel will be inaugurated in Flintswhile in 2026 “at least two hotels more” from the Pro-TrustFlints.
He emphasized that the project Tip Brigin Puerto Plata, will become the “relaunch of the northern coast of the Republic Dominican Republic, with the presence of internationally renowned brands such as Hyatt, Hilton and Meliá, in addition to the expansion of the destination of Tip Cana and the opening of up to five new hotels in Miches, El Seibo province.
“We are not only consolidating the poles tourist in which we are growing, but we are creating new poles that will guarantee us that new ones will come tourists“, he stated.
For his part, Collado assured the continuity of the law of incentive touristboth for the construction of new rooms hotels and for the renovation of existing ones.
