DR1 Daily News - Dominican Republic

Tourism Minister David Collado was beaming as he announced the numbers for the first ten months of the year. With 9,283,767 visitors since January, the minister noted that was above all previous years and just confirms the importance of tourism in the national economy

Collado added that tourism is responsible for over 800,000 jobs, making a huge contribution to the local economies.

The government estimates tourism receipts at US$5.4 billion in net external income and the RD$19.98 billion in taxes that demonstrate the broad effects of the tourism industry.

The minister highlighted the arrival of over two million cruise line passengers, a 25% jump from just two years ago. The jump follows the opening of new ports.

Read more in Spanish:

• El Caribe