The United States leads as the country with the highest number of outbound tourists at 53%
Santo Domingo.- Dominican tourism reached its highest semi-annual growth with the arrival of 6,616,671 visitors between January and June 2026, which represents an increase of 7.7% compared to the same period in 2025 and 11% compared to 2024, reported the Minister of Tourism, David Collado, this Thursday.
During his traditional press conference on the sector’s performance and its impact on the economy, the official indicated that in June alone the country received 975,012 visitors, a figure that represents a growth of 6% compared to the same month in 2025 and 5.5% compared to June 2024.
Read more: David Collado assures Dominican tourism maintains a positive pace and projects 12 million visitors by 2026 Puerto Plata.– The Minister of Tourism
Collado explained that, in the first six months of the year, 4,963,542 tourists entered the country by air and 1,653,129 cruise passengers by sea.
“Those two arrivals give us the grand total of 6,616,671 visitors during these first six months and lead us to project that we will reach 12 million by the end of the year. A true record,” the minister expressed during an event held at the Embajador hotel, in Santo Domingo, together with representatives of the tourism sector.
Air tourism
The minister specified that, in June alone, 816,517 tourists arrived by air, an increase of 6% compared to the same month in 2025, 7.6% compared to 2024, 15.4% compared to 2023, and 39.1% in relation to 2019.
Likewise, during that month, 158,495 cruise passengers arrived by sea, which represents a growth of 6.3% compared to the previous year.
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The main tourist source markets in June were the United States (53%), Colombia (8%), Canada (7%), Puerto Rico and Argentina (5% each), the United Kingdom and Chile (3% each), and Mexico (2%).
Regarding the origin of the flights, the United States topped the list with 53%, followed by Panama (7%), Colombia and Puerto Rico (6% each), and Canada (5%).
The airport terminals that received the most operations during June were Punta Cana (53%), Las Américas (28%), Cibao (12%), Puerto Plata and El Higüero (3% each), and La Romana and Samaná (1% each).
Hotel tourism
Collado also reported that, between January and June, hotel occupancy reached 71%, while the visitor satisfaction level was 4.4 out of 5.
According to those results, 92% of tourists stated that they would return to the country and 60% affirmed that they would recommend the Dominican Republic as a tourist destination.
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The minister reiterated that the Dominican tourism industry is going through one of its best moments and maintained that the country keeps the projection of exceeding 12 million visitors by the end of 2026.
