Dominican Republic now leads in arrivals-population ratio.

BY JOACHIM BAMRUD

Chile posted the highest growth in tourism arrivals and receipts in Latin America last year, according to a Latinvex analysis of new data from UN Tourism (formerly known as the World Tourism Organization) and the government of the Dominican Republic.

Meanwhile, the Dominican Republic replaced Uruguay in arrival-population ratio, thanks to another record year.

All in all, Latin America and the Caribbean received a total of 124.3 million tourism arrivals last year, 7.6% more than in 2023, while tourism receipts grew 8% to $128.4 billion.

MEXICO: TOURISM KING

Mexico last year welcomed 45 million tourists, an increase of 7.4% from 2023.

The country continues to be Latin America’s largest tourism market by far, accounting for nearly 36% of all tourist arrivals to the region last year.

Globally, Mexico ranks as the sixth-largest tourism market by visitors, according to UN Tourism. Mexico received more tourists than such countries as the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and Greece.

The number of tourists that visited Mexico last year also is the equivalent of 34% of the country’s total population.

Mexico’s tourism receipts also grew 7.4% to $33 billion, which is the equivalent of 26 percent of all tourism revenues in Latin America.

Globally, Mexico ranks 16^th in terms of receipts, behind India and ahead of Portugal.

But receipts are low compared with Mexico’s GDP – only 1.78%, according to a Latinvex calculation.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: SHINING STAR

The Dominican Republic — Latin America’s second-largest tourism market in arrivals and receipts — last year welcomed a record 11.2 million tourists, a 9% increase from 2023, according to the Dominican Tourism Ministry.

Those numbers are the equivalent of 103.7% of the total Dominican population, meaning the Caribbean country has replaced Uruguay as the region’s arrivals-population leader. By comparison the average in Latin America is 17.4%.

Meanwhile, receipts from tourism reached $10.97 billion, an increase of 12.5% from 2023, according to UN Tourism.

When compared with the GDP of the Dominican Republic that translates to 8.8%. That’s the second-highest rate in Latin America and nearly fivefold the regional average of 1.9%.

The Dominican tourism market has grown despite a decline in arrivals from the United States thanks to a strong boost in arrivals from Argentina, Colombia and Mexico.

CHILE AND PERU

Chile saw strong growth in tourism arrivals and receipts last year, boosted by a dramatic increase in visitors from Argentina and Brazil, according to government data.

A total of 5.2 million tourists visited the South American country last year, a 40.4% jump from 2023. Receipts grew 33.4% to $3.2 billion.

That means Chile led the way in Latin America in arrival and receipts growth in percentage terms.

Peru posted the second-highest growth, with arrivals jumping 29% to 3.3 million and receipts soaring 30.4% to $3.5 billion.

Other growth winners include El Salvador, Paraguay and Guatemala, our analysis shows.

In fact, El Salvador now ranks as the leader in receipts as a percentage of GDP.

Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy, ranks as the third-largest tourism market in arrivals and 4^th-largest in receipts. While arrivals grew 14.6% last year, receipts only increased by 6%, according to UN Tourism data.

Panama remains the champion in terms of average expenditure per visitor and it ranks as the third-highest receipts per GDP country.

LAGGARDS

Argentina was among the losers last year, posting a 9.4% decline in arrivals and 9.6% fall in receipts.

Uruguay suffered the worst percentage decline in arrivals and the fourth-worst decline in receipts.

Other countries that were among the losers or laggards last year include Ecuador, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Honduras.

© Copyright Latinvex

 

THE NUMBERS

Latin America Tourism (2024): Receipts

Latin America Tourism (2024): Arrivals

Latin America Tourism (2024): Receipts-GDP Ratio

Latin America Tourism (2024): Arrival-Population Ratio

Latin America Tourism (2024): Winners & Losers

Latin America Tourism (2024): Average Expenditure per Visitor

 

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