Santo Domingo.- President Luis Abinader and the Minister of Tourism, David Collado, agreed today in affirming that the tourism industry is doing "better than ever" in the Dominican Republic, by reaching the historic figure of 621,953 arrivals in August, thus surpassing that same month of 2019 with 124,563 visitors.

They also reported that if to those figures are added the 94,792 cruise passengers who visited the country last month, "we are talking about 716,745 visitors in August, something never seen before," Collado said.

While presenting the sector's growth figures before President Abinader and representatives of the private sector, Collado reported that from January to August the country received 4,904,162 tourists and another 755,818 cruise visitors.

Of the 621,953 visitors in August, 502,289 were foreigners and 119,674 were ex pats.

Foreign arrivals in August represent a 27 percent growth over 2019 and 11 percent over 2018.

Ex pats visits last month also registered an increase of 18 percent compared to August 2019 and 39 percent compared to the same month in 2018.

Tourist arrivals by air last month set a record, surpassing 2018, when 537,576 arrived, and 2019 when 497,390 arrived.