The Dominican Republic is on track to receive close to five million visitors this year, after record arrivals from September through November, Deputy Minister of Tourism Jacqueline Mora said.

Mora said tourism was rebounding sharply from the novel coronavirus pandemic lows of last year, cementing a recovery for the Caribbean’s top tourist destination.

Last month, the country received 519,349 visitors, a rise of 197 per cent over the previous year and 12 per cent over November 2019.

Notwithstanding, overall arrivals this year will be about 23 per cent shy of the 6.4 million travellers seen in 2019, Mora indicated.

Tourism represents 8.4 per cent of the country’s economy, according to its central bank, although the Ministry of Tourism says the sector’s true impact is closer to 30 per cent, once ancillary services are factored in.

In 2019, tourism represented RD$7.4 billion in revenue for the Dominican Republic.

While much of the region barred international travellers during the pandemic, the Dominican Republic kept its borders open, instead focusing efforts on rolling out vaccines, particularly in tourism hot spots and among hospitality workers.

Even so, Mora said new coronavirus restrictions in places like Canada and Europe to fight the Omicron variant could dampen travel in the first few months of the year, even as the ministry estimates to close 2022 with 6.6 million visitors.

“We still don’t know what this new wave of infections will look like… but January could be challenging,” she said.

The region’s tourism vulnerability to the pandemic will continue to impact its full economic recovery as nations and airlines increasingly restrict travel due to the fast-spreading variant.