At the 2026 Dominican Republic Hotel and Tourism Association (Asonahores) Trade Show, leading economist Nassim Alemany shared striking new data that highlights the rapidly expanding economic footprint of the Caribbean nation’s tourism sector. Over the past 10 years, total tax revenue generated directly and indirectly by tourism activity has tripled, climbing from roughly RD$15 billion a decade ago to more than RD$45 billion in 2025.
Alemany’s analysis, first reported by local financial outlet El Dinero, accounts for a full range of levies tied to the tourism industry: from corporate and individual income taxes linked to tourism operations, to passenger service fees, and all other government charges collected from hotels, resorts, and tourism-related businesses.
The economist emphasized that the strong performance of tourism tax collections extends far beyond the sector’s visible direct contributions to the national economy, offering clear evidence of its deep spillover benefits across multiple domestic industries. Post-pandemic growth trends have been particularly robust, with Alemany confirming that sector-linked tax revenue has been growing at a faster pace in the years following 2020 than it did in the pre-COVID era.
Alemany attributed this rapid growth to two key factors: the ongoing expansion of the tourism industry itself, and its extensive interconnectedness with nearly every other segment of the Dominican economy. Unlike many narrow economic sectors, tourism does not operate in isolation. It relies heavily on inputs and services from a wide range of domestic industries, creating widespread economic activity and tax generation far outside hotels and restaurants.
New data included in Alemany’s presentation underscores this cross-sector reach. In 2025 alone, the Dominican tourism sector spent an estimated RD$220 billion on purchases from domestic industries. Breaking down that spending, the commercial sector received the largest share at RD$68 billion, followed by manufacturing at RD$26 billion, construction at RD$22 billion, and transportation at RD$6.8 billion.
This surge in tax collection aligns with the growing overall weight of tourism in the Dominican Republic’s national GDP. Alemany’s calculations show that when combining the sector’s direct, indirect, and induced economic impacts, tourism contributes a total of 15.9% to the country’s annual gross domestic product. By comparison, its direct, on-site contribution alone stands at 8.3% of GDP, confirming that more than half of tourism’s total economic benefit comes from its ripple effects across other industries.