14ymedio, Madrid, 27 December 2023 — Ariana Guilak got off an American Airlines flight from Miami this Tuesday in Punta Cana and found a surprise. David Collado, Minister of Tourism of the Dominican Republic, and Frank Rainieri, businessman of the founder of the Punta Cana Group, were waiting for her at the foot of the plane. Both gave her a bouquet of flowers, a flag of the country and a commemorative band: she was the passenger who symbolically marked the milestone of 10 million tourists in 2023.
The fact, spread by international media, has a devastating headline for the Cuban authorities, in the magazine Reportur, the most read in the sector in Latin America: Cuba is moving away from tourist records while the Dominican Republic pulverizes them, it says, without mercy. The subtitle is not far behind: Heads and tails of Caribbean recovery.
“With this flight, the Dominican Republic has 10,031,000 visitors in 2023, the result of the work of the public and private sectors. Our country is celebrating today. This is an achievement of all Dominicans and we should all feel proud,” said Minister Collado at the event, which was repeated in the other two main airports in the country – Santo Domingo and Santiago – as well as at the two largest cruise terminals.
The sector contributed more than 20% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a record in Latin America, and places the Dominican Republic as the second most visited Latin American destination, behind Mexico
The good news did not stop there. In December alone, the figure of 850,000 tourists arriving in the country by plane will be reached. The sector contributed more than 20% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a record in Latin America, and places the Dominican Republic as the second most visited Latin American destination, behind Mexico. Furthermore, in 2022 it was a leader in the recovery of tourism in the region, with twice as many international travelers as giants such as Colombia, Brazil and Argentina.
With so much joy, it is not surprising that Frank Rainieri told Reportur that the goal should now be to achieve 15 billion dollars annually starting in 2030; this year foreign currency worth about 11 billion has been generated. “You stop at the s
