By the Caribbean Journal staff

The Dominican Republic saw a tourism surge in the first quarter of 2018, according to newly-released data from the country’s Central Bank.

After a strong January and February, the destination saw a 14.7 percent increase in stayover visitor arrivals in March, leading to a 7.7 percent year-over-year increase for the first three months of 2018.

The Tortuga Bay resort.

That kind of growth rate should buoy the destination’s efforts to grow toward a total of 10 million annual tourist arrivals by 2023, a major stated goal for the Dominican Republic.

Punta Cana remained the country’s most popular stop, accounting for 68 percent of tourist arrivals in the first quarter — a total of 1.08 million arrivals.

The country’s second-most-trafficked airport was Santo Domingo’s Las Americas, which accounted for 14 percent of tourist arrivals.