Tourist travel to the Dominican Republic during the first two months of the year was up 4.8% compared to the travel during the previous year. Non-resident arrivals in January and February 2005 were 668,397 compared to 637,605 last year. US travel increased to 164,129, compared to 155,175 last year, for a 5.7% increase. Canadian travel, nevertheless, was down 8% from 156,654 travelers in Jan-Feb 2004 to 145,111 for the same period in 2005.
Other leading source markets for the Dominican Republic posting increases were: Germany where travel increased from 40,164 in 2004 to 45,337 in 2005. Italy showed an increase from 25,990 in 2004 to 29,639 in 2005. And there was an increase in French tourists from 72,583 in 2004 to 74,726 in 2005.
Spain showed a decline in travel from 28,399 in 2004 to 25,878 in 2005, and England posted a slight increase from 25,254 in 2004 to 25,908 in 2005.