The Hotel & Restaurant Association reports that its stats show there has been a 9.23% increase in air travel during the first six months of the year. While in 1998, 1,328,318 visitors (foreigners and non-resident Dominicans) arrived using Dominican airports, for the same first six month period of the year, some 1,450,867 arrived in 1999. Asonahores data shows a break down of 990,655 foreigners arriving in 1998, compared to 1,086,861 arriving in 1999, for a 9.61% increase in foreign arrivals. Non resident Dominican arrivals were 337,663 for the first six months of 1998, compared to 365,006 in 1999 for an 8% increase. The average stay is now estimated at 8.7 days, and expenditures per day are at US$101. Asonahores has forecast an increase in travel for the winter months, with large numbers of travelers coming from the US and France.
