Dominican Republic Hits Another Tourism High

• June was the Dominican Republic’s best tourism showing since the onset of the pandemic, officials said this week. A total of 468,367 travelers visited the Dominican Republic in June, a 20% jump from the 390,554 visitors that came to the country in May.  
• The June number represents about 80% of the visitors that came to the country in June 2019, according to Dominican Republic Tourism Minister David Collado.  In all, the country has welcomed just over 1.64 million passengers to the country so far in 2021, Collado said, that came from a total of 19,725 flights.  
• The influx of tourist arrivals was in large part due to a relatively liberal entry protocol. This has allowed the country to be among the strongest performers in the Caribbean in 2021. The country is ranked 19^th on Insider Monkey’s 25 best Caribbean islands to visit. 
• The strong recovery in the country’s tourism sector will be a significant driver of its economic rebound as the sovereign is expected to grow by 6.0% in 2021, following a 6.7% contraction in 2020 (Fitch Solutions). In addition to demand for its tourism product, robust external demand for Dom Rep’s goods and other services, as well as a swift national vaccination campaign will underpin this economic rebound over the coming quarters.

(Source: Caribbean Journal & NCBCM Research)