In a report released today, Franco Uccelli of Bear Stearns brokerage firm highlights the good times for Dominican Tourism. He points out that the most recent statistics indicate that after climbing by 7.9% in 2005, the country?s stay-over arrivals were again up 7.4% in 2006, reaching almost 4.4 million visitors. Non-resident foreign tourist arrivals recorded a 8.2% increase during 2006, to total more than 3.3 million. Visitors from North America accounted for 48.6% of total non-resident foreign arrivals (US tourists represented 30.2%) and European tourists for 42.7%. He highlights the fact that tourism remains a key contributor to growth and employment, as well as a key generator of foreign exchange for the country.
Uccelli points out that measured in terms of its contribution to GDP, the tourism sector expanded by 8.4% during the first nine months of 2006. Central Bank statistics show that tourism is estimated to have contributed more than US$3.75 billion in foreign exchange revenues to the Dominican economy last year, up from US$3.5 billion in 2005.
Uccelli says that with an aggressive international marketing campaign in place, sizeable investments in tourism infrastructure and the sector?s healthy FDI pipeline all bode well for the country?s continued preeminence as one of the Caribbean?s premier tourist destinations.
See www.bancentral.gov.do/publicaciones_economicas2.asp?docu=…