Dominican tourism grew over 2011

posted on: Jan 20 2012 9:47 by The Reporter. Viewed 389 times.


According to the Minister of Tourism Francisco Javier Garcia, tourist arrivals to the Dominican Republic by air in 2011 exceeded expectations, growing by 5% from 2010.

Garcia was speaking at the opening of the International Tourism Fair “FITUR 2012” held in Madrid, Spain, and said that they were expecting a growth of just 4%.

“In December we ended with an extraordinary growth above eight percent and in general in 2011 it grew 5.17% compared to 2010.

The minister said the year just has set a landmark in the history of Dominican tourism with visitor arrivals exceeding 4.3 million visitors a year.

“In 2011 we received the largest number of tourists that have ever been received in a year with the arrival of 4,306,000 tourists, which marks a milestone in the history of Dominican tourism,” said the official.

He stressed that Russia played a leading role in the growth of 2011, changing from being an emerging to an established market, at a time when some European markets are affected by the global crisis, leaving the U.S. as the largest single market for Dominican tourism.

“Russia has become an established market, with a growth of 59 percent in 2011, and went on to beat Italy, which has ceased growing and dropped to fifth place behind France, Germany, Spain and England,“ said Francisco Javier.

The Fitur Fair is the most important in the tourism industry for Spain and much of the world, being the first international fair of the year, bringing together tourism industry professionals, including the Dominican Republic who sent a large delegation.

This year 167 countries and more than 9,500 companies attended in order to offer their products. Dominican ministers and businesses were there to show the Dominican tourist attractions to foreign tour operators, in order to increase operator sales and improve visitor arrivals in the coming months.

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