No Caribbean destination welcomed more travelers last year than the Dominican Republic. 

And it wasn’t particularly close. 

The surging tourism destination surpassed seven million visitors in 2022, the first time the country has every achieved that milestone, and a new record for the Caribbean at large.

That included a remarkable showing in December, which turned out to be the single-highest-volume month in the history of Dominican tourism, with 765,910 visitors. 

In all, the Dominican Republic reported 7,165,387 stay over visitors last year, according to Dominican Republic Tourism Minister David Collado. 

“Our tourism industry is changing and has been recognized as the most resilient in the world,” Collado said. 

The Dominican Republic didn’t just do well on land — it also set a record at sea. 

Cruise arrivals to the country also set a new record, with 1.311 million cruise passengers in 2022, Collado said. 

Overall, the country’s 2022 numbers represented a 10 percent improvement over its previous high in air arrivals in 2019, and a 10 percent jump in cruise traffic compared to 2019. 

American travelers continued to dominate the country’s tourism arrivals, followed by Canada, Colombia, Argentina and Germany. 

Last month, hotel occupancy reached 76 percent, another record for the country.