Yearly Timeline · 2019–2025
Punta Cana Tourists Per Year
Updated: 2026-06-01
Executive summary
From 6.5 million pre-COVID to 11.6+ million in 2025, the Dominican Republic — anchored by Punta Cana — has not only recovered from the pandemic but expanded 48% beyond 2019. Punta Cana absorbed the majority of that growth via PUJ airport.
Key statistics
11.6M+
2025 total
11.19M
2024 total
+9% YoY
2.48M
2020 COVID low
+48%
2024 vs 2019
Beyond pre-pandemic
Full year-by-year breakdown
The Dominican Republic was one of the first Caribbean nations to reopen after COVID-19 — borders opened in July 2020 without mandatory quarantine — which is why the recovery curve below is steeper than every regional peer.
DR visitors per year, 2019–2025
| Year | Visitors | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | ~6,468,000 | Pre-COVID benchmark |
| 2020 | ~2,476,000 | COVID collapse — April low: 217 arrivals/month |
| 2021 | ~5,300,000 | Partial recovery; DR reopened July 2020 |
| 2022 | 7,163,400 | +35% YoY; full recovery to pre-COVID trajectory |
| 2023 | 8,058,571 air + 2,244,963 cruise = 10,366,517 | First time over 10M total |
| 2024 | 8,535,742 air + 2,656,305 cruise = 11,192,047 | +9% YoY, +48% vs 2019 |
| 2025 | ~9.4M air + cruise ≈ 11.6M–11.7M | All-time record |
Source: MITUR, Banco Central RD, Presidencia RD.
The 2020 collapse, in context
April 2020 recorded a single-month low of just 217 international arrivals in the entire country. By August 2020 — six weeks after reopening — monthly arrivals had recovered to roughly 200,000. By December 2021 the DR was back at pre-COVID monthly volumes. No other Caribbean destination matched that pace.
Why Punta Cana led the recovery
Three structural reasons: (1) PUJ is a private airport, able to act faster on operational changes than state-run hubs; (2) the all-inclusive resort model proved highly attractive in early-pandemic uncertainty; (3) Punta Cana's customer base is heavily North American (≈70%) and recovered before European long-haul travel.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How many tourists visited Punta Cana / DR in 2025?+
How long did it take to recover from COVID?+
Is 2026 looking like another record?+
What happened to the Russian market?+
Sources & methodology
- Presidencia RD — RD cierra 2024 con récord histórico de más de 11 millones de turistas — Official 2024 arrival totals (Jan 2025)
- MITUR — República Dominicana marca hito histórico: 11.6 millones de visitantes en 2025 — Official 2025 full-year recap, December 2025
- Presidencia RD — 11.7 millones de visitantes en 2025 — Address to National Assembly, Feb 2026
- Trading Economics / Banco Central RD — DR tourist arrivals time series
- DatosMacro / Expansion — Turismo internacional República Dominicana
- Tourism Analytics / Banco Central — DR statistics dashboard
- DMK Abogados — Dominican tourism grew by 9% in 2024 — Source market breakdown, length of stay, daily spend
More research from the Data Center
Featured
Punta Cana Excursions
Turn what you just read into a real day on the water. These six experiences are the ones we book most for first-time visitors.
Saona Island Premium 4 Beaches Tour
Premium speedboat tour to 4 of Saona's most beautiful beaches — all inclusive.
4.9· 512 travelers
$120 / person
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Catalina Island Tour
Snorkel the famous wall reef and unwind on a white-sand beach — All Inclusive with open bar & Dominican buffet.
4.8· 247 travelers
$99 / person
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Party Boat Punta Cana
3 hours all-inclusive: all-you-can-drink open bar, snorkeling, dolphins and the legendary sandbar pool party.
4.9· 298 travelers
$75 / person
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Buggy Adventure
Ride through tropical trails and local villages in high-performance buggies.
4.8· 214 travelers
$75 / buggy
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Horseback Beach Riding
Trot along untouched Caribbean shoreline at golden hour.
4.7· 82 travelers
$65 / person
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Private Yachts
Half-day, full-day or sunset charters with captain and crew.
From $1,200 per charter
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