by Brian Major
Last updated: 4:30 PM ET, Mon December 1, 2014
Photo: The Dominican Republic's arrivals surge continued in October. Pictured is the Balcones del Atlanticos resort in Las Terrenas. (Photo by Brian Major)
The Dominican Republic tourism continues to surge even as the country faces the approaching end of what will likely be another record-breaking year for arrivals. The country's non-resident air arrivals totaled 323,488 for October, a 14 percent increase over the same month in 2013, according to data from the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic. The country's 4,214,764 arrivals through October represent a 9.7 percent increase over the same period in 2013.
"We've achieved impressive numbers this year when compared with the other Caribbean destinations," said Arturo Villanueva, vice president of the Dominican Republic Hotels and Tourism Association (Asonahores), in an interview with the country's Hoy newspaper.
The tourist surge comes as the Punta Cana International Airport recently opened a second terminal, designed to accommodate 6,500 passengers daily and more than two million annually, according to officials at Grupo Puntacana, the airport's owner. Sixty percent of air arrivals in the Dominican Republic land at Punta Cana International Airport.
The Dominican Republic is already the most-visited Caribbean destination. The country hosted 4.7 million overnight tourists in 2013 according to statistics from the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), nearly twice the number hosted by Cuba, the next-largest country. Radhames Martinez Aponte, the Dominican Republic's vice minister of tourism noted that Dominican tourism grew 3.6 percent in 2013 "while the entire Caribbean grew only one percent."
Travelers from the United States represent the country's largest source market, said Martinez, accounting for 1.6 million travelers last year, or 40 percent of the country's visitors. The government is engaged in a variety of tourism projects, from an ongoing refurbishment of buildings in Santo Domingo's historic district to the 2015 opening of Carnival Cruise Lines' $65 million Amber Cove cruise port near the Puerto Plata resort area.
The completion earlier this year of a major highway connecting Santo Domingo with Punta Cana, slicing the drive time from four hours to two, will also increase options for tourists, Martinez said.
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