It is believed that the drop in passenger arrivals, mainly among tourists from the U.S. and Puerto Rico can be explained by new regulations introduced requiring those travellers to present a passport to return to U.S. territory.

While overall tourist arrivals increased by 3.45% in January and February of 2007, this still represents a drop in the growth rate over the same period in 2006. According to the Tourist Flow Report presented by the Central Bank, 664,523 tourists arrived in the Dominican Republic in the first two months of the year compared to 641,335 in 2006.