At a press conference led by the president, Luis Abinader, the head of state stressed that the aforementioned figure is the total of those who arrived by air, which were 7,165,387 tourists; and those who arrived on cruise ships (one million 311 thousand 129).

Collado stated the country grew in visitors by air by 10 percent compared to 2019 and by 20 percent by cruise ships.

He also specified that, for the first time in history, tourism managed to generate more than eight billion in foreign currency, and said last December was the best month of all years, receiving 765,910 visitors.

With respect to the airports, he expressed in December the terminal that had the largest arrival of tourists was Punta Cana, in the province of Altagracia, with more than 425,000; followed by Las Américas in Santo Domingo, with some 206 thousand.

Collado pointed out that the first issuer of tourists to the Dominican Republic was the United States, followed by Canada, Colombia, Argentina and Germany.

As for hotel occupancy, it reached 76 percent nationwide in December 2022, exceeding the 69 occupancy figure of 2019 prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The destinations with the highest occupancy were Punta Cana-Bávaro and Romana-Bayahíbe, with 79 and 78 percent, respectively.

When intervening in the activity, President Abinader affirmed that these figures are the result of the transparent, planned and determined work of his Government to achieve the “extraordinary recovery of the country’s main industry, which is an example in the world.”

“Our tourism industry is changing and has been recognized as the most resilient in the world,” he said.

And he pointed out that this result is thanks to the work of all Dominicans who believe things can be done right, in a private sector which decided to work together with the government to achieve recovery in record time, and in a government that works tirelessly and with transparency to achieve a better country.

ef/mgt/ema