“Tourism will not suffer a significant slowdown due to omicron”

The president of the Association of Hotels and Tourism of the Dominican Republic (Asonahores), Rafael Blanco Tejera, assured that despite the recent outbreaks of the omicron variant at the international level that have caused cancellations, both of reservations and flights, the country would not suffer a significant slowdown.

“This can be explained by the low level of positivity in tourist areas and by the fact that we continue to operate under strict security protocols, both in hotels and in the tourism value chain, which has generated confidence in the issuing markets that we are a country that is managing the pandemic correctly,” he said.

He added that the tourism authorities are satisfied with the process of tourism recovery during 2021, apart from the fact that in recent months the levels of arrivals before the pandemic have been surpassed, which is an indication for them of the “good public-private work.”

Blanco Tejera predicted that 2022 would be the year of the consolidation of the recovery of tourism, according to Listin Diario.

In November 2021, 519,349 tourists arrived in the country, 197% more than in the same month of 2020.

According to the Ministry of Tourism (Mitur), between January and November 2021, 4,263,259 visitors arrived, a recovery of 73% of the tourists received from January to November 2019.