Dominican Republic Leads Caribbean in Tourist Arrivals

With just over 10 million people, the Dominican Republic is the second-largest Caribbean nation after Cuba. But the D.R. is clear and away the regional leader when it comes to tourism. In 2012, more than 4.56 million tourists visited the country by air, a 5.9 percent increase over the year before. Of the total, just under 639,000 were non-resident Dominicans abroad.

Statistics released by the Central Bank show the effects of Hurricane Sandy on tourist arrivals. The superstorm struck New York and New Jersey in late October, shutting down regional airports throughout the Northeast and causing widespread damages to homes and businesses.

As a result, D.R. tourism arrivals in the final quarter of 2012 came to 1.61 percent, compared to first-quarter growth of 7.88 percent, second-quarter growth of 7.38 percent and third-quarter growth of 6.51 percent. Even so, of the 256,175 additional tourists who came in 2012 compared to the year before, 181,737 of them were from the United States and 21,253 were from Canada.

The biggest gains, however, came from South Americans (46,328) — led by Venezuela, Chile, Peru and Colombia, in that order — and Russians (42,405). In addition, 6,647 more visitors flew in from Puerto Rico, just to the east, than in 2011.

At the other end of the spectrum was economically battered Europe, where travel was down sharply. The biggest drops were reported in travel from Great Britain (39,452), Spain (14,001) and Italy (10,055).