Punta Cana Tourism Statistics 2026

The Dominican Republic now holds 12.03% of the entire Caribbean tourism market — the largest single-country share in the region, up from 10.13% in 2010. Within the DR, the eastern coastline anchored by Punta Cana, Bávaro and Cap Cana absorbs the majority of all international visitors. The math is simple: of the 8.54 million people who arrived by air in 2024, just under 5 million landed at Punta Cana International.

That concentration is why Punta Cana is the most-photographed, most-booked and most-searched Caribbean destination in 2025 — and why every statistic on this page is effectively a Punta Cana statistic in disguise.

Annual arrivals at PUJ have grown almost without pause since the airport opened in 1984. The COVID-19 pause cut 2020 numbers by roughly 62%, but DR was one of the first Caribbean nations to reopen (July 2020), and Punta Cana recovered faster than every peer. By 2023 the country had surpassed 10 million visitors for the first time, and by 2024 it broke 11 million.

Strong arrival numbers translate into strong hotel demand. Punta Cana averaged 81.9% annual hotel occupancy in 2024, the highest of any major DR zone, up from 80.6% in 2023. Peak months push the region near full capacity: January 2024 hit 86.6% in Bávaro-Punta Cana, and Christmas/New Year holiday weeks routinely report 95–98% occupancy across Cap Cana, Punta Cana and Bávaro combined.

For context the DR national average was 76.4% in 2024, La Romana-Bayahíbe ran 80.0%, and Santo Domingo (largely business travel) was 58.2%. Punta Cana is the high-water mark by every metric.

DR closed 2025 with 11.6 million+ visitors per the official MITUR release, with President Abinader citing 11.7 million in his February 2026 address. Early 2026 indicators are stronger still: stopover arrivals in March 2026 were +16.3% YoY, and April 2026 +6.7% YoY. The WTTC projects DR Travel & Tourism to reach US$29 billion in GDP contribution by 2035, with employment growing to roughly 980,000 jobs at a 3.3% compound annual rate.