Tourism in the Dominican Republic is an important sector of the country's economy. More than 10 million tourists visited the Dominican Republic in 2023,^[1][2] making it the most popular tourist destination in the Caribbean and putting it in the top 5 overall in the Americas.^[3] The industry accounts for 11.6% of the nation's GDP^[4] and is a particularly important source of revenue in coastal areas of the country. The nation's tropical climate, white sand beaches, diverse mountainous landscape and colonial history attracts visitors from around the world.^[5][6] In 2022, the nation's tourism was named the best-performing nation post-pandemic with over 5% visitors more in comparison to pre-pandemic levels in 2019.^[7]

As one of the most geographically diverse nations in the region, the Dominican Republic is home to Pico Duarte, the Caribbean's tallest mountain peak, and Lake Enriquillo, its largest lake and lowest elevation.^[8] The earliest cathedral, castle, monastery and fortress built in all of the Americas is located in Santo Domingo's Colonial Zone, an area declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.^[9][10]

Due to political conflicts and warfare that had been present throughout most of the country's history, tourism was not common in the Dominican Republic until the 1930s. Rafael Leonidas Trujillo's rise to power represented a turning point for this facet of the economy. During the 1940s, the Trujillo government initiated the development of eight government-owned-and-operated resorts in the capital of Ciudad Trujillo (now Santo Domingo) to foster the growth of a tourism industry. The most famous of these developments was the Hotel Jaragua, which gathered international attention for its luxury, alongside the Malecón de Santo Domingo in 1942.^[11] Many of the hotels built during this time remain open and include: the Hotel Provincial, which is now a children's hospital; the Hotel la Paz, now known as the Hotel Hispaniola; and the Hotel Comercial in the Colonial Zone, which was the first privately owned hotel in the country.^{[citation needed]}

Hotel development was not limited to the capital. Several provincial capitals were the site of Trujillo's public works projects. These included the Hotel Matún in Santiago de los Caballeros, the Hotel Guarocuya in Barahona, the Hotel Maguana in San Juan de la Maguana, and the Hotel Montaña in Jarabacoa. The building of the Hotel Macori in the San Pedro de Macorís Province was the first development in the eastern end of the country, which has now become the country's main tourist destination.^{[citation needed]}

In 1955, the Fair of Peace and Fraternity of the Free World (Feria de la Paz y Confraternidad del Mundo Libre) was organized in Ciudad Trujillo, to honour the 25th year of Trujillo's rule. The event was intended to attract international visitors and showcase the development of the country's tourism industry, but attendance was below expectations and foreign investments failed to materialize.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1950s, construction of the Las Américas International Airport took place, along with highway systems to connect it to the capital and better accommodate the country's growing number of tourists. The Cuban Revolution and resultant embargo served to redirect American tourists to Ciudad Trujillo as the Latin American tourism destination of choice.^[11] Conversely, political instability and social unrest in the wake of the assassination of the Mirabal Sisters in 1960, the assassination of Trujillo in 1961, and the Dominican Civil War of 1965 and subsequent US military occupation, led to a notable decrease in tourism.^{[citation needed]}

In the post-civil war era, the tourism industry of the country saw an upswing through increased government attention and changes in economic policies. In 1971, the Tourist Incentive Law (Law 153) was passed to create the department for the Development of Tourism Infrastructure (INFRATUR). Its aims were to promote infrastructure projects, encourage private investment, and cooperate with the Ministry of Tourism to further grow the tourism industry. By encouraging private investment through low-interest loans, the Dominican Republic underwent two distinct periods of hotel and resort building that increased the number of hotel rooms from 1,134 in 1970 to over 20,000 by 1990.^[11] The country also saw the number of tourists increase from 278,000 in 1975 to over one million visitors by 1987, surpassing traditional Caribbean resort locations.^[12]

From the 1990s, the Dominican tourism industry has been developed and operated at its fullest, developing more housing complexes, through agreements and foreign advisors. Consequently, the number of hotel rooms in the decade of the 1980s was about 8,562 and the 1990s was 45,000.

In 1997, around 270,830 foreign tourists arrived by sea, of which 156,099 used the ports in Santo Domingo, 5,566 arrived via the port of Puerto Plata, 108,698 disembarked in La Romana, 404 in Samaná and 63 in Boca Chica. This figure compared with those of 1996, it shows that in 1997 the number of foreign visitors who used the waterway increased by over one hundred percent.

In 1996 entered to the country by sea 110.936, an amount that increased to 270,380 cruise passengers. Despite not having any financial incentive for ecotourism, this is in its true splendor. It posed above is confirmed by the annual statistics for visitation to ecotourism businesses and protected areas, which exceed 800,000 people. It quote the following data, for the year 1998: total visitors to ecotourism projects was 930,000.

Increasing competition, for example created by the Asian markets, and a change in the motivation of tourists, now forces authorities managing regions, and tour operators to supplement their offer with new options, not based directly on the sun, sand and sea. Additionally, some Asian markets, for example Thailand, have a very reasonable tax rate for tourist consumption (7%), whereas the Dominican Republic has an extremely high rate (18 to 28%). It has been argued that the Dominican Republic should focus on diversifying its tourism product, so as to prevent elimination from the market by competitors when tourists completely change their preferences by shifting, for example, from 3S to 3E and to focus on industrial and cultural tours such as the road tar mine at la quenera, approximately 10 km south of the Haitian boarder.^[13]

Most visitors arriving to Dominican Republic were from the following areas of residence or countries of nationality:^[14]

Note: Air arrivals only, it excludes arrivals by land and sea

More information Country/Territory, World ...

Country/Territory	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013
United States	2,578,292	2,004,849	1,655,324	612,433	2,030,257	2,237,519	2,073,963	2,085,186	2,001,909	1,784,486	1,587,404
Canada	893,742	557,985	123,861	337,297	865,927	892,020	827,721	768,486	745,860	706,394	684,071
France	161,385	217,508	106,490	77,834	219,750	228,629	221,492	232,024	227,483	229,678	232,754
Russia	24,424	113,650	183,700	75,847	217,082	224,064	245,346	136,249	71,572	180,821	188,110
Argentina	211,528	188,837	36,422	39,540	189,211	221,850	182,170	137,642	133,888	112,489	107,305
Germany	134,958	171,409	98,100	37,048	180,567	217,185	265,709	259,133	247,613	230,733	214,151
United Kingdom	172,621	188,063	21,213	31,525	158,085	187,492	177,534	165,111	142,083	126,563	108,236
Spain	181,164	181,588	117,652	44,998	170,138	163,273	177,993	169,760	172,245	150,859	142,207
Brazil	124,366	83,968	50,326	29,624	111,260	132,861	95,416	125,984	140,348	114,129	92,870
Chile	126,737	117,077	34,024	25,653	114,080	114,613	101,481	84,601	87,766	82,027	74,118
Colombia	343,446	293,564	152,814	35,279	116,812	112,176	103,444	100,697	78,735	62,893	48,174
Puerto Rico	226,279	163,709	107,150	36,721	117,039	105,695	111,095	121,131	115,084	103,891	74,580
Venezuela	99,524	106,602	125,936	34,286	111,576	101,155	109,734	170,713	167,176	112,854	75,173
Italy	92,214	87,553	35,835	28,614	92,674	82,581	84,094	81,729	86,680	82,010	80,112
Mexico	103,633	72,478	45,465	17,718	56,034	44,667	36,741	36,997	32,719	34,743	26,584
World	8,058,671	5,805,349	3,655,217	1,699,194	5,357,619	5,618,561	5,354,017	5,178,050	4,872,319	4,511,062	4,117,493

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The weather in Punta Cana averages between a high of 81 °F to 86 °F. The average days per month is 11.25. Hours of sunshine can vary from 8 to 10 hours. The seawater temperature will vary from 79 °F to 84 °F. The weather is nice year-round which attracts vacationers even in wintery months.

The country's tourism has become its primary source of income. The country offers a wide choice of accommodations in the city, in the mountains and in the coastal regions. The Dominican Republic is one of the top vacation places for Europe, the US and Canada, and also South America. This is because the island's rich history and unique culture, and the fact that Dominican people are so welcoming and friendly.

The main areas of tourist activity in the country are the regions of the East, North, Santo Domingo and Barahona, but nevertheless, there has been an increase in the interior, with many tours on foot or by bike through the mountains and fields. In 2001 the Dominican Republic was visited by over two million people and according to the Central Bank, the Dominican tourism industry has generated 2,103 million dollars, exceeding 1,782 million achieved in the previous year.

According to Central Bank figures, more than 2.5 million tourists arrived by air to the country in 2001, a 10.1% increase over the figure given in 2000. 58% of tourists came from European countries, mostly countries like Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and USA, were recorded countries like the United States, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina and among others.

Tourism is one of the most important sectors of the Dominican economy, because this makes great contributions to it. The movements of tourists to other parts of the country involving expenditure, especially when is from a nation to another, that is the case of the country; Foreign tourists usually consume in dollars or exchange their currency for the Dominican peso, this generates an injection of dollars into the economy and thus the country can buy the services and products that do not produce. The country had revenues in 2004 of 2.557 million euros.

The Dominican Republic, thanks to its geographical location in the Caribbean, has many areas that are exploited for tourism.^[15] This includes its beaches and its scenery.^{[citation needed]} The most exploited provinces in terms of tourism are concerned, after the era of Trujillo, are Puerto Plata, La Romana and La Altagracia, also worth noting that the del Este peninsula, is the country's most important tourist area.^{[citation needed]}

Dominican tourism is an issue that is part of the daily lives of its citizens, because it depends largely on the economic livelihood of the same, and their way of life.

Among the main tourist destinations are:

• There are numerous beautiful waterfalls across the Dominican Republic. In the picture is Salto del Limón
• Mangroves in Los Haitises National Park
• Taíno pictographs at the Cueva de las Maravillas National Park
• Los Tres Ojos National Park
• Bayahibe Beach
• Puerta del Conde City Gate, one of the remaining preserved sections of the Walls of Santo Domingo, the city is a UNESCO WHS and the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the Americas.
• Church and Convent of los Dominicos at Santo Domingo

• Visa policy of the Dominican Republic
• Tourism in the Caribbean
• List of airports in the Dominican Republic