Dominican Republic attracts more tourists than the three largest countries in South America

( Spanish) — The Dominican Republic attracted more tourists than Argentina, Brazil and Colombia in 2022, according to data from the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

The Dominican Republic is 175 times smaller than Brazil, which received 3.6 million tourists in 2022, compared to the more than seven million reached by Quisqueya. While Colombia registered 4.4 million visitors during the same period.

The UNWTO Secretary General, Zurab Pololikashvili, revealed in May that the Caribbean country is above the world average for its rapid recovery in the post-pandemic tourism industry.

The trend seems to be continuing because in the first five months of 2023, the Minister of Tourism of the Dominican Republic, David Collado, reported on Tuesday that the country has received more than 4.5 million visitors.

Until May 2023, the figure of 3.3 million tourists who arrived only by air was reached. Likewise, he revealed that, in the same period, the country received 1.1 million cruise passengers, “something never seen before,” said the minister.

Tourists in Punta Cana on January 7, 2022. Credit: ERIKA SANTELICES/afp/AFP via Getty Images

Collado indicated that the largest tourist-sending countries in May were the United States with 51.6%, Canada with 11.4%, Colombia with 4.2%, Argentina with 4.1 and Puerto Rico with 3.5%.

The Minister of Tourism estimates that by the end of the year the Dominican Republic will receive 7.9 million tourists by air alone, the highest number of tourists in history.