Air tourist arrivals are up 3.9% from January to November 2017, compared to the same period last year. So far this year there have been 5,560,787 non-resident visitors, 208,286 more than the same time last year.
Foreign tourists represent 87.2% of total non-resident travelers and have increased by 4.4% whereas non-resident Dominicans increased by 0.5%.
Of the foreign visitors, 56.3% arrived from North America (US, Canada and Mexico), 25.8% from Europe, 12.8% from South America, 4.7% from Central America and 0.4% from Asia and the rest of the world.
There was a decrease in the flow of passengers from Central America and the Caribbean with 8,157 less, as a consequence of the decrease in the arrival of tourists from Puerto Rico due to the impact of the hurricanes Irma and Maria.
There was also a 3.3% decrease in the numbers of tourists from South America due to the reductions in arrivals from Venezuela (-55,922) and Brazil (-34,307), due to the economic situation facing those countries, according to the Central Bank report.
The fall off from those countries was compensated for by increases in tourists from other South American countries including Argentina (39,907), Chile (15,787), Uruguay (6,063), Peru (3,336), Colombia (2,183) and Ecuador (1,452).
The greater share of the increase in tourists, nevertheless, came from Russia, with an additional 105,766 travelers for the period. There were also increases from England (13,922), Germany (9,682), Ukraine (8,728) Spain (7,402), Poland (7,165), Portugal (6,582), and Switzerland (4,901). European market share of travelers to the Dominican Republic increased from 23.3% for Jan-Nov 2016 to 25.8% for the same period in 2017.
Travel from North America was up 62,240 visitors or 2.3% compared to 2016. This includes an increase of 54,108 tourists from Canada and 8,732 from the United States. It is important to note that both hurricanes Irma and Maria in September 2017 affected flights to the country, affecting the overall statistics for the year.
Overall air travelers, including residents in the Dominican Republic, from Jan-Nov 2017, was 6,149,838, for a 4.3% increase or 251,816 more travelers compared to the same time in 2016.
For November alone, the statistics show that 51.4% of tourists to the Dominican Republic came from North America, 29.6% from Europe, 14% from South America, 4.6% from Central America and the Caribbean and 0.4% from the rest of the world. In November, the bigger flows of visitors came from the United States (136,621), Canada (62,394), Germany (23,567), Russia (22,679), Argentina (15,839), France (15,771), England (13,191) and Spain (12,861).
95% of the visitors reported coming for recreation and 93.7% said they would be staying at a hotel. 54.1% of travelers were in the 21-49 age range.
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