Tourism continues to do fine. Foreign investment stable.

Tourism continues to do fine
Climbing energy prices and the financial problems in the United States hinted at uncertainties that the Dominican tourism sector would see a fall in 2008, the opposite has happened. The Ministry of Tourism announced that in the first quarter of the year, 1,430,034 visitors have arrived. This is 6.73% more than in the 1^st quarter of 2007, when 1,339,836 tourists arrived.
April traveler flow numbers single-handedly show a 2.54% swell compared to 2007, and there is a inclination for arrivals to continue to outpace 2007 figures. This year, 315,721 tourists visited in April, as opposed to 307,914 in April 2007.
El Caribe reports that most people are coming from the US, Canada, Spain, France, Switzerland and Belgium.

Minister of Tourism, Felix Jimenez reported that Canadians are showing their strength. Canadians accounted for 398,023 arrivals in the first four months of this year, balanced against 358,638 last year.

Foreign investment stable
The DR has received a total of US$12.1 billion in foreign direct venture capital (FDI) during the past 15 years. This data was derived from the Foreign Investment Association (ASIEX) and the Central Bank, the Dominican Republic Center for Exports and Investment (CEI-RD). 2007 alone the Dominican Republic received US$1.7 billion in FDI, a little less than Costa Rica, but higher than any of the other four DR-CAFTA countries. Tourism and telecommunications were the chief areas of outlay. Net proceeds for services have sustained an unvarying consistency. Net revenues registered 95% in 2007. Free trade zones equaled 4% net revenues in 2007. Macroeconomic stability in the DR has been the means in increasing FDI says Listen Dario