by Brian Major
Last updated: 12:45 PM ET, Tue August 15, 2023
The Dominican Republic hosted 792,981 non-resident visitors in
July, the best month for tourist arrivals in the country’s history, surpassing record
totals from July and December of 2022 and exceeding 700,00 monthly travelers
for the first time, said David Collado, the country’s tourism minister.
In a Dominican Today report, Collado said 652,506 of the July
2023 visitors were international travelers while 140,475 were Dominican residents traveling from one region to another.
In all, the increases represent visitor July visitor growth of 34
percent over 2019, 41 percent over 2021, and eight percent over 2022.
The Dominican Republic’s July visitor growth extended to the high
seas, as the country hosted 148,560 cruise passengers during the month.
Between January and July, 1,416,011 cruise passengers arrived in
the Dominican Republic, “something never seen before in the history of tourism,”
Callado said.
The Dominican Republic hosted 6,295,667 visitor arrivals in the
first seven months of the year (4,879,656 land-based tourists and 1,416,011
cruise passengers), the country’s first time ever reaching that total at this
point, Callado added.
The majority of July 2023 arrivals (54 percent) traveled from
the U.S., while eight percent traveled from Canada, five percent from Puerto
Rico, and 3.7 percent from Colombia.
In
related news, JetBlue officials said this week 40 percent of Dominican Republic-departing
flights to the United States are operated by JetBlue, as the company seeks to
expand operations in the country.
JetBlue
operates 990 monthly Dominican Republic flights to six U.S. airports, said Robin
Hayes, the company’s CEO.
Twenty-four
of the 33 daily departures are to New York City and Boston, with 33 daily Dominican
Republic departures split among the county’s Las Americas International, Punta
Cana International, Gregorio Luperón International International and Cibao
International airports.
Quoted
in Dominican media reports, Hayes said eight percent of all JetBlue flights arrive
from the Dominican Republic, making the country their most significant market
outside the U.S.
The carrier is seeking to increase its “strength, services and
operations” in the Caribbean nation, Hayes said.
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