Santo Domingo.- In the first ten months of this year, revenue from tourism in the Dominican Republic, mainly from airport departure taxes and tourist card fees, reached approximately 12.4 billion pesos. This surpasses the revised budgetary target of 12.3 billion pesos set for the end of the year. In October alone, these taxes contributed about 1 billion pesos to the treasury.
According to Diario Libre, passenger departure tax increased 15.3% in these 10 months and retention for tourist visas increased 14%.
The increase in revenue corresponds with the growing number of tourists visiting the Dominican Republic in 2023. As of November, air passenger arrivals totaled nearly 7 million, an 8.1% increase from the same period in 2022.
Breaking down the revenue sources, the state collected approximately 8.2 billion pesos from the airport departure tax for passengers traveling abroad from January to October.
Revenue from tourist cards, mandatory for visitors entering the Dominican Republic for vacation purposes without a visa, was about 4.1 billion pesos in the first ten months.