The Dominican Republic just set an all-time tourism record, Caribbean Journal has learned.

Last month was the best September for tourist arrivals in the history fo the country — with more visitors than in high-powered years like 2018 and 2019. 

That represented a total of 365,544 arrivals in September. 

So far, the country has reported 3.3 million visitors so far in 2021, which is more than in the same period in 2019, before the pandemic. 

Travelers are also staying longer, according to Dominican Republic Tourism Minister David Collado, with an average stay of seven days. 

A total of 3,694 commercial flights arrived in the Dominican Republic in September on 87 different airlines. 

Looking ahead, the country is reporting that air ticket reservations for the last three months of 2021 are between 12 and 20 percent higher than those in 2019. 

Officials are projecting as many as 4.8 million tourists by the end of this year. 

— CJ