The Dominican Republic received between January and May of this year 2,853,998 tourists by air transport, this represents an increase of 5.9% over the same period of 2017, reported this Friday June 15 the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD).
According to the report published on the website of the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic, the total number of passengers who arrived at the Dominican Republic by air transport, including residents and non-residents, during the period January-May 2018, reached 3,102,477, for a increase of 5.4% in relation to the same period during the year 2017.
North America continues to be the main tourist issuing region to the Dominican Republic, with 61.3% of visitors, followed by Europe (23.1%), South America (12.3%), Central America and the Caribbean (3.0%) and Asia and the rest of the world (0.3%).
The information highlights an increase of 7.6% of visitors from North America, 13.1% from South America, with travelers from Argentina (29.076%), Brazil (14.007%), Chile (4.559%) and Uruguay (1.888%) standing out.
Europe, however, showed a fall of 2.4% from January to May of this year, as a consequence of the lower influx of tourists from Germany (-21,139), Russia (-10,436), Sweden (-4,279), Spain (- 4,090) and Italy (-1,031), which could not be compensated by the increases from countries such as France (6,354), Portugal (5,597) and Ukraine (4,159).
The flow of visitors from Central America and the Caribbean experienced a contraction of 16,564 passengers (-18.0%) between January and May, mainly due to the drop in the arrival of passengers from Panama (-7,206), Puerto Rico (-5,459) and Cuba (-2,255), while Asia and the rest of the world contributed with 1,137 additional tourists, for a relative growth of 15.5%.
Edward De Valle, travel tourism and real estate consulting and marketing expert, has been living in the DR for years and predicts that the arrival of tourists will continue to increase. In the first three months of 2018, the DR welcomed in a 7.7% increase in tourists from the previous years first quarter, and five months in, the country is still seeing an increase from past years. Tourists are attracted to the islands’ many activities that separate it from other “resort-style” destinations, like day trips to nearby mini-islands and beaches and trips to historical hot spots like the Colonial Zone in Santo Domingo. The country is predicted to welcome its’ most tourists to date this year.