Santo Domingo.- The Dominican Republic received over 250,000 cruise passengers last February, representing 157 percent more than in 2022, placing the country as a Cruise Hub in the Caribbean region.
According to data from the Dominican Port Authority (APORDOM), among the main ports that received visitors this year are Amber Cove in Puerto Plata, which received 95,933 visitors, and Taíno Bay in the same city, which welcomed 80,393 tourists.
In addition, the La Romana Tourist Terminal, with 52,131 cruise passengers. In the ports of Santa Bárbara de Samaná, Santo Domingo, Santo Domingo Ferries, and Catalina Island, 22,461 visitors were present.
Government support for more cruises
According to data provided, the country has become one of the main destinations for cruise lines around the world, finding support in the administration of President Luis Abinader with new investments for the reconstruction and construction of ports through APORDOM.
It is recalled that President Luis Abinader and Jean Luis Rodríguez delivered the second stage of the Taíno Bay tourist and cargo terminal in San Felipe in “La Novia del Atlántico” Puerto Plata, with an investment of more than US$15 million. Dollars.
During the inauguration of the work, the president highlighted the importance of the investment and how the Dominican Republic has already become a Cruise Hub in the Caribbean region.
President Abinader highlighted the management of the director of APORDOM, Jean Luis Rodríguez, stressing that “the country is consolidating itself as the Caribbean cruise hub in one of the most important regions.”
One of the main achievements achieved in Rodríguez’s management as head of APORDOM is to have reached 1 million 311 cruise passengers, a figure about which the president said that “this year’s projection is to receive almost 2 million, and when we receive them we become in the country where the most cruise tourism from the Caribbean arrives, but this will continue to grow”.
At that time, President Abinader revealed that they were in the process of building a cruise terminal in Samaná and that the investment in Arroyo Barril was also approved to have a cruise port there, as well as a tourist port in Barahona, which would be a complement to the Cabo Rojo terminal, in Pedernales.
“Not only are we becoming a logistics hub, but we are also doing it in the cruise part and that is called getting the most out of our resources,” said the president.
