Tourism Sector Feels The Pinch

Tourist arrival numbers to the Dominican Republic started to show early signs of a slowdown for the country's vital tourism sector. Although tourist arrivals were up 2.1% y-o-y in the first 11 months of 2008, foreign arrivals in the Dominican Republic in November fell by 28.0% compared to the same period a year earlier. Indeed, during January-November, only arrivals from the US, Canada and France (accounting for 58.5% of total arrivals) were in positive territory relative to the same period in 2007, while arrival numbers from Spain, the UK, Germany and Italy were firmly in negative territory. We believe that tourist arrival numbers during the high seasons are set to deteriorate further, presenting serious challenges to the country's tourism industry.

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