The Dominican Republic is back — and then some.
The Caribbean’s most popular tourism destination had another record-breaking month in February, a sign of the country’s full-fledged travel rebirth.
In February, the Dominican Republic reported more than 566,000 passengers, representing the second-best month for tourism in its entire history.
That represented 268 percent growth over February 2021, maintaining a trend of recovery the country has seen since September of last year.
“Tourist flow levels continue to remain at pre-pandemic levels in the Dominican Republic, while most destinations in Central America and the Caribbean are nowhere near achieving such a recovery,” said Tourism Minister David Collado.
Of course, that’s not entirely true — destinations like the United States Virgin Islands and The Bahamas, most notably, have seen dramatic tourism rebounds with expertly-managed reopenings amid the pandemic.
But it’s hard to argue with the DR’s success, buoyed by what was the most liberal entry-testing policy in the wider Caribbean over the last two years.
About 60 percent of the country’s tourists are coming from North America, along with 30 percent from Europe and 9 percent from Latin America, according to Collado.
Punta Cana remains the country’s tourism hub, accounting for more than 79 percent of all travelers to the destination.