The Dominican Republic is the only country to welcome more visitors in 2022 than in 2019, according to travel analytics firm ForwardKeys.
The firm analysed air ticketing data combining arrivals up to October 18 with bookings to the end of the year, and compared it with 2019 to see which countries were the best visited in 2022.
It found the Dominican Republic topped the list and was the only country to have increased its number of tourists compared to 2019, with 5% more arrivals this year.
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Turkey, Costa Rica and Mexico followed, all maintaining the same number of visitors this year compared to 2019.
In fifth and sixth place were Jamaica and Pakistan, both with 5% fewer tourist arrivals, with Bangladesh in seventh with -8%, followed by Greece with -12%, Egypt with -15% and Portugal with -16%.
Also in the top 20 were the UAE, Colombia, Qatar, Spain, Ireland, France, Brazil, Denmark, Switzerland and Sweden.
ForwardKeys said the strong representation of Central American and Caribbean countries towards the top of the list “reflects the relative strength of the US outbound market”.
It also said the approach to the pandemic taken by mainly “highly tourism-dependant countries” in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, which imposed less severe Covid restrictions than elsewhere in the world, meant they maintained their visitor economies and have reached or exceeded pre-pandemic volumes.
The firm said recovery from the pandemic has been the strongest travel trend this year, helped by pent-up demand leading to an increased desire to go abroad, a revival in business travel, and major global events such as the World Expo in Dubai and the Fifa World Cup in Qatar.
However, it went on to say the Omicron variant, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and airport disruption have led to stalling recovery.
Among top destination cities, Antalya was the highest performing and welcomed 66% more visitors than it did in 2019.
It was followed by San Jose Cabo which was up 21%, Puerto Vallarta was up 13%, Punta Cana was up 12%, San Salvador was up 10% and Cancun was up 9%.
ForwardKeys said the “extraordinary performance” of Antalya was helped by the weakness of the Turkish lira and the policy of the Turkish government to remain relatively open to tourism during the pandemic.
Olivier Ponti, vice-president of insights at ForwardKeys, said: “Looking at the world on a regional basis, one must admire Caribbean countries for their early efforts to sustain visitor arrivals in the face of the pandemic and their continued growth in an increasingly competitive travel landscape.
“The Middle East also stands out as it has helped to accelerate its recovery by hosting major global events such as the Dubai World Expo, Formula One grand prix in various Gulf locations and, above all, the Fifa World Cup in Qatar.
“The Gulf has also seen a relatively robust comeback in business travel, a segment whose recent revival has come as a surprise to many.”