Over six million Dominicans embrace domestic tourism

Santo Domingo.- According to Jaqueline Mora, Technical Vice Minister of Tourism, over six million Dominicans partake in domestic tourism, as revealed during the presentation of the findings from the third study on Dominican tourism conducted by Analytica.

Mora emphasized the significant value local tourists bring to the tourism sector, contributing approximately US$1,547 million. This form of tourism played a pivotal role in the sector’s recovery amid the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The economic study, titled “Results of Dominican Tourism,” delves into key indicators spanning from 2016 to 2022. Notably, it highlights that in 2022, the hotel industry generated a remarkable added value of US$22.19 billion, with a multiplier effect of 2.88 across the broader economy in terms of GDP. “This accounts for 19% of GDP, meaning that for every peso directly generated, the tourism industry indirectly generates two pesos,” stated Mora.

She further elaborated, “This broader category encompasses activity stemming from purchases in other economic sectors and the spending of tourism sector employees.” Mora added, “59% of this revenue stemmed from hotels, with the remaining 41% attributed to other segments of the sector.”

As a founding partner of Analytica, Mora highlighted trends in hotel investments, noting that local capital has seen increased participation, reaching 31% in 2022 compared to 69% from foreign investment. Of the local hotel investments, 23.9% is financed through loans provided by Dominican banks, with Banco Popular historically leading this financing avenue.