Santo Domingo. Héctor Porcella, director general interine of the Dominican Institute of Civil Aviation Idac, affirmed that the strategic alliance between the Ministry of Tourism and the aeronautical sector has been a key factor to ensure the sustained growth of the tourist flow registered under the government of President Luis Abinader.
Assessing the latest report on visitor arrivals in the first 5 months of 2023, Porcella said: “We are strategic allies of tourism because most of the tourists arrive in the country by air, and the truth is that the numbers that the Ministry of Tourism is presenting month after month are impressive, and at the same rate that tourism is growing, so is civil aviation.”
He indicated that the number of airlines approved and certified in the Dominican Republic has also been reinforced by an impressive increase of the aircraft´s fleet operated by those airlines to bring more tourists to the country
°This is the successful strategy drawn up by the Tourism Cabinet created since the beginning of President Abinader’s administration to recover the industry and grow civil aviation as the main platform for Dominican tourism°, said the director of Idac.
David Collado’s numbers
The Minister of Tourism, David Collado, reported this Tuesday that 621,575 people visited the Dominican Republic during May, rising to 3,379,392 the number of arrivals in the first five months of the year, a figure never seen in the history of Dominican tourism.
In his usual monthly press conference to announce the behavior of of the tourism industry´s statistics, Minister Collado said that last month the country received 621,575 tourists by air, that is 11 percent more than in 2022 and 18% above 2019. He also reported that in May the country received 136,374 cruise passengers, thus surpassing the 57,385 who arrived in 2022 and the 55,694 in 2019.
“If we add the 621,575 tourists who arrived by air and 136,374 cruise passengers we will have that in the month of May 757,949 people visited us, something never seen in the history of Dominican tourism,” said Minister Collado, pointing out that in his management the growth of tourism has been sustained.
He also revealed that in that same period, January-May, the country received 1,124,039 cruise passengers, “something never seen.” “This means that the Dominican Republic received, in just five months, 4,503,431 visitors, something truly extraordinary, something never seen in the history of Dominican tourism. We did it again,”
The airports that received the highest arrival of visitors last month were: Punta Cana with 59.4%, Las Americas with 25.6, Cibao with 11.4, Puerto Plata with 2% and Catey and La Romana with 0.5%.
The Minister of Tourism estimates that by the end of the year the country will receive 7.9 million tourists by air, the highest number of visitors in history, and added that the largest countries emitting tourists in May were: United States with 51.6%, Canada with 11.4%, Colombia 4.2%, Argentina 4.1 and Puerto Rico with 3.5%.