PUNTA CANA — The Dominican Republic reached a significant milestone over the holidays: its 10 millionth visitor of the year.

The unprecedented milestone was reached on Dec. 26, 2023, with tourist Ariana Guilak receiving a special welcome by Minister of Tourism David Collado at the Punta Cana International Airport. Guilak arrived on a flight from the United States, which is the Dominican Republic’s number one market.

According to Minister Collado, the country welcomed 7,863,542 tourists by air and 2,168,209 cruise passengers by sea in 2023.

“Reaching 10 million tourists between air and cruise ships is a fact that should fill the entire country with pride, regardless of political flags, since each of these visitors are friends of the country who contribute to development, employment to the countryside, to construction and the entire productive apparatus of the country continuing to grow,” said Minister Collado.

Tourist Ariana Guilak was honoured at a special ceremony at Punta Cana airport

The Dominican Republic Ministry of Tourism (MITUR) also presented figures of tourism’s economic impact this year, which included more than 620,000 direct jobs and an estimated generation of foreign exchange of more than 11 billion dollars. Figures also showed that the Dominican Republic is the country that has grown the most in tourist arrivals in the Caribbean region from 2019 to date, going from 6.4 million visitors to more than 10 million, and that it’s been recognized by various international organizations as the number one country in terms of post-COVID tourism recovery.

To mark the 10 million milestone, activities were also carried out at Las Américas International airport in Santo Domingo, the Cibao International airport in Santiago, as well as at Amber Cove and Taino Bay cruise ports in Puerto Plata.

For more information go to www.godominicanrepublic.com.