Tourist numbers at the end of May 2019
The Central Bank released on schedule the data for May 2019. May data shows the usual increase in visitors. According to figures published by the Central Bank, the number of tourists arriving in the country from January to May 2019 was 2,988,155 non-resident visitors, which is 134,157 more than the same period last year, a 4.7% year on year increase.
Looking at the non-resident foreign visitors, which accounted for 87.2% of the total, there was an increase of 3.5%, 86,958 more than last year, while non-resident Dominican arrivals increased by 12.8%.
Looking at May alone, there were 527,732 non-resident visitors, which is a 4.3% increase over last year, and the foreign visitors within that figure increased by 2.4%, whereas non-resident Dominicans increased by 16.1%.
Total air passengers arriving in Dominican airports, including residents, was 3,245,147 from January to May, which is a 4.6% increase over the same period last year.
Looking at the same period, 64% of the tourist arrivals were from North America (US, Canada and Mexico), 21.2% from Europe, 11.4% from South America, 3.1% from Central America and the Caribbean, and the remaining 0.3% from Asia and the rest of the world.
The region with the highest increase in arrivals from January to May was North America, with 123,567 more visitors for an 8% growth. Most of the increase was due to entries from the United States (114,532), followed by Mexico (6,750) and Canada (2,285).
There was also an increase in passengers from Central America and the Caribbean at 7.0%. South America showed a decrease of 4.2%, with 13,074 fewer arrivals than the same period in 2018.
The countries responsible for the decrease were Argentina (-16,272), Venezuela (-7,917) and Uruguay (-1,014), but there were increases from Chile (4,702), Colombia (4,151), Bolivia (1,053), Brazil (925) and Peru (900).
Regarding tourists from Europe, these numbers also decreased by 28,972, representing a 5% decrease, mainly due to decreases from Germany (-11,366), England (-10,382), France (-7,072), Sweden (-4,617), Spain (-2,224), Portugal (-1,906) and Belgium (-1,585). These were partially compensated for by increase in arrivals from Poland (3,401), Italy (2,453), Ukraine (2,000), and Romania (1,350).
The majority of the foreign tourist arrivals landed at the Punta Cana airport at 67.2%, followed by Las Americas in Santo Domingo with 15.5% of the total, and Puerto Plata at 8.5%. The other airports of La Romana, Cibao, La Isabela and El Catey made up the remaining 8.8%.
The demographic profile of the tourist arrivals is of 58.7% aged between 21 and 49 years, and 53.9% female.
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