Santo Domingo.- Dominican Republic’s protected areas werevisited by more than 1.08 million tourists last year, according to Central Bankfigures.
The number also equals 22% of all non-resident foreignerswho arrived in the country by air, or 4,832,956.
The Central Bank says 79.7% of the visitors to the nationalparks, scientific and forest reserves, monuments and other sites of theNational System of Protected Areas were foreigners, while 21.3% were Dominicans.
“Standing out among the most frequented areas were theParque Nacional del Este (Cotubanama), which includes Isla Saona (631,102), LosTres Ojos (cave of the Three Eyes)(161,729), Catalina Island (154,412), amongothers.
Dominican Republic has one of the highest percentages of protectedareas worldwide, with 25% of its territory that includes 30 national parks,according to the Environment Ministry.