by Brian Major
Last updated: 12:10 AM ET, Thu September 3, 2020
Interest in Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico vacations remains high according to data from Expedia. International searches via Expedia sites for July show the Caribbean nations accounting for significant interest among U.S. and Canadian travelers.
Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic respectively represented 30 and 35 percent of user searches for travel during the months of August through October, according to Expedia officials. The majority of July searches were performed by potential travelers from the U.S. (80 percent) and Canada (10 percent), officials said.
Punta Cana generated the most interest among Caribbean destinations, accounting for 35 percent of searches, according to the officials at the OTA. As a country, Puerto Rico accounted for 30 percent of searches for travel between August and October. Both Puerto Rico's capital of San Juan and Jamaica's Montego Bay district emerged as top choices among potential travelers, with each representing 15 percent of July searches.
Meanwhile, the Dominican Republic's tourism minister is making clear the scope of the tourism-related challenges the nation faces in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Describing the sector as operating at "minimum capacity," David Collado said international visitors to the Dominican Republic in July totaled 54,105, an 88 percent decline from the 470,562 recorded during the same period in 2019.
He added there were no cruise passengers entering the country in July compared with the 83,325 travelers who entered via cruise ships in 2019. The minuscule three percent hotel occupancy rate recorded in July represents a 66.7 percent decline from the 69.7 percent occupancy rate recorded in July of 2019.
Yet Collado expressed optimism for the future, saying "With the launch of the Responsible Tourism Recovery Plan, we will be able, step by step, to make our country one of the most visited."
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