Tourism in the Dominican Republic: Colombia displaces European countries in arrivals

Tourism in the Dominican Republic shows a full recovery, with arrivals higher than those prior to the pandemic.

Even with the departure from Ukraine and a decrease in arrivals from Russia, the numbers reported by tourism month after month are favorable, this is due in large part to new players that have positioned themselves as large emitters, one of them Colombia.

Read also: Check out our coverage on the Dominican Republic

Between January and September 2022, 5.3 million tourists arrived in the Caribbean country, Colombia ranks as the third issuer, only surpassed by the United States and Canada.

Of the 5,324,293 tourists who arrived in the Dominican Republic between January and September of this year, 29.2% came from the United States (1,557,347 tourists), 6.7% came from Canada (357,370 tourists) and Colombia with 3.84% of the total arrivals, some 204,471 Colombian tourists.

Colombian tourist arrivals in the 9 months of 2022 doubled those reported in 2018 and 2019 prior to the pandemic and are higher than those reported in the 12 months of those years. They are 164% higher than those of 2018 (77,257 tourists); 145% more than in 2019 (83,622 tourists) and 113% higher than in 2021 (96,174 tourists).

ONE LOOK PER YEAR

The United States and Canada have occupied the first and second place as the main source countries of tourists to the Dominican Republic in the data reported by the Central Bank. However, the third place has been disputed between European countries: Germany, France and Russia.

Even if only tourist arrivals from South America are observed, Argentina and Chile had the greatest weight in visits. In the case of the year 2021, the arrivals of Venezuelans to the country as tourists was higher than that of Colombians, many stayed irregularly or used it as a bridge to reach another country.

IN SEPTEMBER 2022

The Ministry of Tourism of the Dominican Republic highlights that, in the month of September 2022, Colombia ranks fourth in the top 5 tourist arrivals by country of residence for that month, but in arrivals by cities, Bogotá ranks in first place.

In the top five arrivals by country of residence for the month of September are: the United States, Canada, Spain, Colombia and the United Kingdom, however, the Vice Minister of Tourism, Jacqueline Mora, explained that arrivals by country of birth of tourists that arrived in that month, Colombia occupies the second position.

This is due to the fact that 65% of arrivals from Canada are born in that country, while 35% are people who live or are Canadian nationals, but were not born in that country.

During the presentation of the arrival data from the Ministry of Tourism, Mora highlighted that, in the case of Colombian tourists, the stay was analyzed, and that they return and do not stay in the country.

PROJECTIONS

In general, the expectations of the authorities for the end of the year 2022, is that more than 7 million tourists arrive in the country and that they contribute income that exceeds US$8 billion.

Between January and October 2022, 5,826,078 tourists have arrived and they have generated US$7.278 billion.

With information from Bloomberg Línea