La Altagracia Province

La Altagracia demonstrates extreme tourism concentration—a single province containing the second-most-visited destination in Latin America and the busiest airport in the Caribbean. Punta Cana International Airport receives 64% of all flights entering the Dominican Republic and handles 70% of tourist arrivals, averaging 4.8 million passengers annually with 800+ weekly flights. The airport projects 8% growth in 2025 arrivals.

The scale is unprecedented for the region. In the first seven months of 2025, the Dominican Republic welcomed 7.2 million visitors—a historic record representing 3.2% growth over 2024, 14% over 2023, and 49% over pre-pandemic 2019. Most arrived through Punta Cana. October 2025 saw 11.9% more stopover tourists than October 2024. The country projects 11.7-12 million total visitors by year-end 2025.

Over 50 kilometers of uninterrupted beaches anchor luxury resort development. Banco Popular's tourism sector loans exceeded RD$96.5 billion by end-2024, financing the renovation of 30,000 rooms and creating 35,000 direct and indirect jobs. At FITUR, the bank presented 26 new projects with $6.2 billion estimated investment. Agriculture and fishing persist alongside tourism, but the province's identity is now inseparable from international visitor flows. Like Bali, La Altagracia demonstrates how tourism monocultures can achieve extraordinary scale—while creating concentration risk that a pandemic or hurricane could expose.