Dominican Republic posts record 9.6% tourism growth in Dec.

San José de las Matas, Dominican Republic.- The government continues taking concrete actions to maintain tourism’s steady growth, which reached a record 9.6% in December, Tourism minister Francisco Javier Garcia said Sunday.

He said each work president Danilo Medina inaugurates such as in San José de las Matas (central) yesterday, "is the best evidence of his efforts to reach the goal of 10 million tourists" per year.

García, speaking to cut the ribbons on productive works and ecotourism attractions such as two water theme parks on rivers and streams, said the country posted in 2014 the highest tourism growth in recent years, exceeding 10%.

Medina also inaugurated the Aguas Calientes thermal spring spa and a fruit and vegetables packing plant in the town Botoncillo, built at a cost of RD$30 million, and announced the construction of 440 kilometers of roads and highways

"2014 was an extraordinary year for the tourism industry and this 2015 will be better," Garcia said, adding that the markets with the highest growth in December were the US (12.7%), Venezuela 53.9%, followed by Canada, Brazil, Puerto Rico, England and Germany

According to Central Bank figures the main tourism contributions were North America with 10.2%, Europe 5.3%, South America18.7%, and Central America and the Caribbean, 10.8%.