Francisco Javier Garcia likes to answer questions with figures and, as the Dominican Republic’s minister of tourism, he seems to have plenty to choose from: 6.8 million tourists visited the country in 2016, a number rising faster than ever and expected to be higher still in 2017; hotel room capacity is expanding in the thousands; and foreign direct investment (FDI) in tourism reached $790m in 2017, more than in any other sector.
Mr Garcia is proud of this growth, which, in some geographical areas buoyed by tourism, has surpassed gross domestic product (GDP) growth. “In 2016, the Dominican Republic’s economy grew by 6.6% [as a whole]. Punta Cana grew by 8.3%, and Puerto Plata by 15.6%,” he says.
