In March 36,624 more tourists visited the Dominican Republic this year compared to the same month last year, for a total 537,640 non-resident travelers, including 61,120 Dominican expatriates and 476,520 foreign tourists. Of this total, 95.8% said the purpose of their visit was leisure. Tourist travel to the Dominican Republic in March was up 5.4%.
Travel to the Dominican Republic in March was 537,640 in March, which is up 7.3%, reported the Central Bank statistics division.
The Central Bank attributes the increase in travelers to more visitors coming from the United States, which is experiencing economic recovery. It says that the tourists are also attracted by the international promotion campaigns carried out by the Ministry of Tourism and the private hotel sector to consolidate the country’s leadership in tourism in the Caribbean.
Tourists coming from the United States, Canada and Mexico totaled 319,088, for a 27,592 increase in March. In contrast, travel from Europe was down 13,349 as a consequence of the economic troubles in Russia. Travel from South America was up 9,227 to 43,823. Travel from Central America and the Caribbean also increased by 833 passengers in March, for a total of 13,791 tourists.
Travel in the first quarter of the year (January to March) showed 77,050 more visitors from North America, including 68,718 from the United States; 7,917 from Canada and 415 from Mexico, for a 10.2% increase. US travel alone was up 16% in the first quarter of the year.
First quarter travel from South America was up by 24,640 tourists, or 20.1%. There were 11,009 more travelers from Venezuela, 7,195 from Brazil, 3,162 from Colombia, 1,200 from Peru and 523 from Chile.
Travel from Europe showed a decline in the number of Russians for 44,598 for the first quarter compared to the same period in 2014. There were increases in travelers from Spain, up 8,846, UK with 7,883 more visitors, Germany with 5,625 more, Poland 1,471, the Netherlands 1,188 and Italy 1,186. Excluding the Russians, European travel was up 7.2% from January to March 2015.
http://www.bancentral.gov.do/publicaciones_economicas/informe_turistico/informe_turistico2015-03.pdf