The Migration Department statistics indicate that in the month of December 2016, 857,071 people arrived in the country with the busiest airports being Punta Cana, with 290,288 passenger arrivals and Las Americas with 182,206.
There were 199,528 arrivals by sea, with 75,464 in Puerto Plata, followed by La Romana with 72,662 and then Sans Souci with 36,923 passenger arrivals.
The number of arrivals in December 2016 was 189,741 up on the same time period in 2105.
The Central Bank also highlights that despite the overall increase, travel in December was affected by the uncertainty of an electoral year in the United States.
Just in the month of December, according to the Central Bank statistics, the Dominican Republic received 606,846 non-resident airline passengers – a number that was more than 23,000 more than for the same month in 2015. However the report also highlights a reduction in the number of visitors from Venezuela that went from 24,700 in December 2015 to just 14,700 in December 2016. The report said that this decrease was partially responsible for the 3.6% decline in passengers arriving at Las Americas International Airport, which is the principle of arrival airport for Venezuelans.
Excluding the decrease in passengers from Venezuela, the overall number of visitors in December 2016 increased by 6.3% from 2015.
In December 2016, 55.4% of air arrivals were from North America, 27.8% from Europe, 12% from South America, 4.5% from Central America and the Caribbean and 0.3% from Asia and the rest of the world.
