The Central Bank reports that during the first four months of this year, the number of visitors to the Dominican Republic was up 7.35%, compared to the first quarter of 2011. So far this year, there have been 1,754,892 visitors, including 120,116 more than for the same period last year. The total includes 107,650 foreign visitors and 12,466 non-resident Dominicans.
In April alone, travel for non-resident passengers was up 5.59% compared to the same period last year, with 21,134 additional tourists for a total 399,143 visitors for the month.
Travelers from North America (the United States and Canada) continue to make up most of the visitors to the Dominican Republic (59.8%). Travel from North America was up 9.04%, or 77,692 visitors for the period, compared to Jan-April 2011.
South America also is responsible for the increase in traffic, with 29,324 travelers. The region overall was up 23.86%. Travelers from South America came from Argentina (9,411), Venezuela (6,993), Brazil (4,864), Chile (3,277) and Colombia (3,157).
Travel from Europe overall was down 1,435 tourists due to declines in travel from the UK, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Italy. Notwithstanding, travel from Russia was up 21,455 visitors, and another 6,516 travelers from France.
Punta Cana International (PUJ) continues to be the preferred airport for tourist arrivals, with 981,077 non-resident arrivals from January to April 2012. This is followed by Las Americas (SDQ) with 267,824 arrivals, Puerto Plata (POP) with 174,043, La Romana (LRM) with 56,481, Cibao (STI) with 49,210, El Catey (AZS) with 32,711 and La Isabela (JBQ) with 5,055.
The Central Bank reported that the airports showing greater increases in absolute numbers were Punta Cana (74,149), Las Americas (11,959), Puerto Plata (10,780), and Cibao (10,320).
As reported, 94.37% of the non-resident arrivals visited for leisure, and 91.54% stayed at hotels. 63.92% of the travelers were between the ages of 21 and 49. Gender-wise, 50.05% were men, while 49.95% were women.