At the Dominican Republic’s annual tourism exchange 10 years ago, officials announced a bold plan: the country wanted to achieve 10 million annual visitors by the year 2023. 

It was an ambitious goal, to be sure, one that was unsurprisingly torpedoed by the pandemic. 

But with the kind of tourism growth the Dominican Republic has been seeing in the last year, it’s not quite so farfetched anymore. 

The Dominican Republic set another record in February, reporting more than 661,000 stay over visitor arrivals — the best February in the history of the Dominican Republic, according to Tourism Minister David Collado. 

That represented a 17 percent improvement over last February, and a 9 percent increase compared to February 2019. 

Hotel occupancy numbers are also sizzling, standing at 82 percent last month, while more than 5,070 commercial flights arrived at Dominican airports. 

So where are these travelers going? 

Just over two-thirds of visitors were in the broader Punta Cana area (including Punta Cana, Bavaro and Bayahibe); about eight percent were in Santo Domingo, eight percent in Puerto Plata, four percent in La Romana; three percent in Samana and two percent in Santiago. 

New York continues to send more travelers to the Dominican Republic than any source market. 

And the country’s success is not just on land. 

February also saw the highest number of cruise passengers of any February in the Dominican Republic’s history, almost tripling the cruise arrival numbers from February 2022, Collado said. 

A decade ago, 10 million visitors seemed a dream. Now, 10 years later, it seems only a year or two away, particularly as the country develops new tourism destinations like Miches and, more recently, Pedernales.

The only question is if this growth will ever slow down. 

For more, visit the Dominican Republic.