Dominican Republic remains on track for the projected arrival of 11.5 million tourists during the year 2024, posting a historic high for the January-September of 8’362’285 tourists already by the end of the ninth month of the year. Of this number, over 1.9 million arrived in one of 562 cruise ships that docked at a Dominican port, according to the Dominican Port Authority.
Of these, the highest performer was the port of Taíno Bay, receiving a total of 204 cruise ships at the close of Q3. Amber Cove took the silver medal with 189 cruise ships, followed by the port of La Romana with 74 cruise ships and the port of Santo Domingo with 72 cruise ships (of which 58 were ferries). The port of Samaná received another 19 cruise ships and Catalina Island received 10. In last place, the port of Pedernales has received 2 cruise ships from Jan-Sep 2024.
The growth rate in Cruise ship tourist arrivals was concentrated in Q2 and Q3. While Q1 posted an 8% growth rate (bumping from 801k to 866k tourist arrivals) in Q2 arrivals posted a whopping 25% growth rate from 464k arrivals to 582k, outshined only by Q3 when the 2023 number of 340k became 460k arrivals for a growth rate of 35% – posting an impressive, consolidated growth rate of 21% for the 23/24 year so far. The 8.3 million total arrivals up to Q3 represent a 10% increase for the 23/24 period.
