Hurricanes Irma (7 September 2017) and Maria (21 September 2017) affected travel to the Dominican Republic. Central Bank tourism statistical report reveals that in September, 47,701 less visitors arrived, which translates to a 13.3% decline compared to September 2016. A large number of flights had to be cancelled from numerous destinations, affecting arrivals of tourists.
Despite the decline, travel for January-September 2017 is up 4.1% overall, with 187,225 more visitors than for the same period in 2016. Tourist visits for the period is at a preliminary 4,711,486, including 4,120,362 foreigners and 591,124 non-resident Dominicans.
57.7% of tourists come from North America (Canada, US and Mexico). 24.9% comes from Europe, 12.3% from South America and 4.8% from Central America and the Caribbean. Only 0.3% comes from Asia and the rest of the world.
Travel from Europe is up a significant 17.6%, primarily due to increases in the number of arrivals from Russia (+94,870), UK (+13,907), Germany (+11,570), Spain (+8,200), Portugal (+5,941), Ukraine (+5,714) and Switzerland (+4,964).
Visits from North America, nevertheless, were only up 2.2%, with 43,472 more travelers from Canada and 8,374 more from the United States.
Punta Cana International Airport (PUJ) continues to be the main port of entry, with 2,790,729 passengers, and 67.7% of the foreign arrivals. Punta Cana International received 160,027 additional travelers, for a 6.1% increase over the January to September period. Next was Las Americas International (SDQ) with 16.8%, Puerto Plata International Airport (POP) with 8.7%.
95% of the visiting tourists said they were coming for leisure and recreation. Only 1.6% said they came for business, or 64,598 visitors. 93.5% of those polled said they stayed at a hotel. 53.3% were in the age range of 21-49 years, with 53.3% being female and 46.7% men.
Read more in Spanish:
https://www.bancentral.gov.do/publicaciones_economicas/informe_turistico/informe_turistico2017-09.pdf
31 October 2017
