Dominican Republic opens borders to tourists, provides health insurance against Covid-19

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Dominican Republic is ready to welcome back foreign visitors in complete safety after overcoming the worst of the pandemic and is offering Spanish investors new tourist destinations. “Our country is safe,” say authorities seeking to restore revenue on which a major part of the economy is based.

“Our country is safe. We are visiting this Fitur tourism trade show (in Spain) where we are showing the world that the Dominican Republic is ready to welcome visitors again,” declared the general administrator of Banreservas, Samuel Pereyra.

The Dominican Republic’s state bank is collaborating with the Ministry of Tourism to promote the sector’s activity, particularly after the crisis caused by the pandemic. “We wanted to show Spanish investors the new tourist destinations, among them Pedernales,” said the executive.

Pereyra, currently in Madrid to attend the International Tourism Trade Show (Fitur) and establish contact with Spanish investors, highlighted the good economic indicators shown by his country, with a growth of 10% last month and a projection of 5-6% at the end of the year, a situation that he described as “enviable” within the region.

Spain is one of the Dominican Republic’s main trading partners and the largest investor in the Caribbean country’s tourism sector.

To promote tourism and provide security to visitors, the Dominican Republic, with the help of Banreservas, has since last year provided each tourist with health insurance covering Covid-19. “We are reassuring tourists,” explained Pereyra, who also highlighted the high rate of vaccination, with over 2 million Dominicans immunized and expecting to reach 7 million between July and August, with priority given to tourism sector employees, virtually all of whom have been vaccinated.

The latest data support the recovery of international tourism, with 320,000 new tourists in March, a month which does not ordinarily have high occupancy in the country, explained Pereyra.

Moreover, hotel bookings are 153% higher than in January 2018, the best year for Dominican tourism, according to travel website Expedia. “We are very optimistic about our country’s economic recovery,” the executive concluded.

During his stay in Madrid, Pereyra held meetings with the Governor of the Bank of Spain, Pablo Hernández Cos; with the president of the Official Credit Institute, Carlos José García de Quevedo, and with other Spanish entrepreneurs, potential investors.

The Dominican Republic is attending Fitur, where this year it is presenting the revitalization of new, more sustainable tourist destinations, such as Pedernales in the south of the country, as well as the program to relaunch the colonial town section of Santo Domingo at an international level.

Fitur, the first international trade show to be held in Spain after the pandemic was declared, was affected by this situation, and this year reduced the number of countries present from 165 in 2020 to 55.

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