Foreign tourists traveling to the Dominican Republic during the first half of this year increased 20.3%, compared to the same period last year, according to Central Bank statistics. This means that 237,296 foreign
travelers arrived at Dominican airports. For January – June 2002, some 1,167,430 foreign arrivals were tabulated, compared to 1,404,726 this year. The January-June 2002 period, however, was regarded as a bad year, as it followed the September 2001
terrorist attack. Nevertheless, statistics for January-June 2001 say that foreign visitors numbered 1,351,812, thus the nearly 1.5 million visitors this year represent a recovery for the travel market.
The Central Bank report on travel says that the attractive hotel prices and the depreciation of the peso have had a positive effect on travel flows. Likewise, the report credits the work carried out by the Ministry of Tourism regarding negotiations
with leading tour operators during major travel fairs.
The report also says that hotel occupancy was up 9.7 points this year, going from 64.1% in January-June 2002 to 73.8% for the same period this year. The boom area of the country is Punta Cana/Bavaro, which grew almost 13% over last year.
For more statistical information, see http://www.bancentral.gov.do