Travel to the DR for the first five months of the year is up 4.44% compared to last year. Some 1,932,564 non-resident travelers arrived during that period, according to the Central Bank. The Central Bank says that the increase is primarily due to an increase in arrivals of non-resident foreigners, up 5.09%.
Total arrivals for the period was 2,115,006, up 4.43% compared to the same period last year.
May, usually a slow month, registered 297,788 tourists, up 0.26% compared to last year.
From January to May 2011, arrivals by non-resident foreigners were up 82,831 visitors, due to the increase in travelers from South America, up 48.07%. During this period, travel from Argentina (18,432), Brazil (15,463), Chile (5,581), Colombia (3,248) and Peru (2,851) made up the difference of 29,202 in 2010, and 50, 133 from the region for the first five months of 2011.
Travel from North America was also up, increasing from 17, 758 in 2010 to 35,554 in 2011. Travel from Europe was down 880. The decline, nevertheless, was significantly less than the 40,663-person drop experienced in 2010 compared to 2009.
The Central Bank reports that 93.51% of the tourists who visited came for recreation and 91.03% stayed in hotels. 63.03% of all tourists who visit are 21 to 49 years old. Of the visitors, 51.07% were women and 48.93% men.