As of the end of September, the Dominican Republic had recorded 109,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases and just over 2,000 deaths for its population of 10.6 million. While the pandemic did not hit the Hispaniola nation as severely as other parts of Latin America, with the country being ranked 12th in Covid-19 death rate per million people (190), the major impact of the coronavirus crisis has been the near stoppage to the country’s tourism industry.
According to the Dominican Tourism Ministry, the influx of foreign holidaymakers accounts for 12 percent of the country’s GDP. During the health crisis, due to the shortage of people coming to enjoy the Dominican beaches, this tourism-oriented country might fall into recession.
In April, seeing the chaos on the horizon, the government in Santo Domingo successfully applied for a USD 650 million loan through the Rapid Financing Instrument of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). And with the Covid-19 curve beginning to flatten in mid-September, Tourism Minister David Callado announced the country’s “Responsible Tourism Recovery...
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