27th April 2007

In the first quarter of 2007 air arrivals of non-resident foreigners to the Dominican Republic totaled 1,161,583 tourists, which is 4% (44,624) increase on passenger numbers compared to the same quarter last year.

The study found that over half of the passengers (52.2%) arrived at Punta Cana International airport, followed by 18.7% landing at Puerto Plata, 14.8% at Las Americas and 8.1% La Romana airports respectively. Smaller airports such as Cibao (Santiago), La Isabela (Santo Domingo) and El Catey (Samana) received 6.1% combined.

This first quarter, most tourists came from Canada, with 28.46% of all arrivals, followed closely by the US with 27.64%, France with 11%, Germany with 6.3%, Spain with 5.2%, Italy with 4.5% and the UK with 3.8%. The US market declined by 3%, partly due to the bad weather in the early part of the quarter that led to flight cancellations, and the new passport obligation for US citizens.

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