Miami.- The DominicanRepublic continues to be the Latin American leader when it comes to tourismreceipts as a percent of its GDP, according to Latinvex analysis of data fromthe World Tourism Organization and International Monetary Fund.
Tourism receiptsreached US$5.6 billion last year, which translates into 8.7 percent of theDominican economy. As a result, the Dominican Republic leads all othercountries in Latin America, including Panama, which had a receipts-GDP ratio of7.9 percent.
Meanwhile, theDominican Republic ranks as the third-largest tourism market in receipts,behind only Mexico and Argentina, according to Latinvex. In terms of the numberof international visitors, it ranks as the fourth-largest market after Mexico,Brazil and Argentina.
The number ofinternational visitors grew 9.6 percent last year to 5.1 million. Thattranslates into an arrival-population ratio of 48.5 percent, the third-highestin Latin America.
As a result, receiptsper visitor reached US$1.1 billion, which ranks as the fourth-highest.
All in all, the numberof international arrivals to Latin America grew by 10.1 percent last year to89.7 million visitors, while receipts grew 7.6 percent to US$79.2 billion,according to our analysis.
Receipts per visitorreached US$883, a 0.4 percent increase.
The number ofinternational arrivals to Mexico, Latin America’s top tourism market by far,jumped 20.5 percent last year to 29.1 million. That was the strongest increasein Latin America, both in percentage and real terms.
Receipts, meanwhile,grew by 16.6 percent to US$16.3 billion. That was the highest increase in realterms and the third-highest in percentage terms.