Las Terrenas Rental Math in a Year the Rules Stalled

In July 2026, the Ministry of Tourism circulated a draft resolution that matters more to a Las Terrenas condo buyer than any occupancy chart. Under the draft, a unit in a condominium regime could register for short-term rental only if the building's internal rules expressly allowed short stays. If the rules prohibited them, the unit could not be registered. The draft was withdrawn before its public consultation ended and never took effect. What it showed was where the government expects control to sit once regulation returns. For anyone pricing a Las Terrenas apartment partly on rental income, that is the building's own paperwork.

The clause that outlived its draft

Forbes República Dominicana reported in July 2026 that MITUR's proposal would have created a mandatory registry called RENATUR. Every property offered for short-stay vacation rental would have needed to register before it could be advertised, directly or through a platform. Owners, administrators, hosts and service providers would all have been covered. Platforms would have had to ask new listings for a RENATUR number. Units already online would have had up to 60 days to comply before being removed.

The proposal was withdrawn, but the topic stayed open. On September 7, 2026, President Luis Abinader said at LA Agenda Semanal that the government is studying short-term rental regulation, "como en todos los países." He also pointed to buyers acquiring apartments for Airbnb and similar platforms as a possible influence on housing prices, Diario Libre reported. The tax side is also unfinished. In May 2026, DGII director Pedro Urrutia said the agency was developing a mechanism for 18% ITBIS on digital platforms including Airbnb, according to Diario Libre. That remains a proposal. An earlier attempt, Decree 30-25, was repealed in March 2025 before it took effect, as Diario Libre covered at the time.

The industry did not oppose the idea of a registry. It disputed the scope. The Asociación Dominicana de Rentas Cortas, ADORECO, asked MITUR to extend the consultation and set up a technical working group, according to Forbes RD. Its position was that short rentals also serve business travel, academic stays and Dominicans living abroad, so a purely tourism-based rule would fall short. The association told Forbes República Dominicana:

"No nos oponemos a la formalización ni a una regulación que mejore la seguridad y la transparencia del sector."

Airbnb told the same outlet it supports a registry, provided the rules are proportionate, separate residential hosts from hotel operations, and ideally come from legislation passed by the National Congress. The government has drafted a registry and is still studying the subject, the platform supports one with conditions, and the trade association has said it does not oppose formalization. The open questions are when rules arrive and on what terms. The condo-bylaw test appeared in the one draft that reached the public, so it is a reasonable reference point for how a future rule may read.

What a building's paperwork would have had to answer

The draft did not ask whether a building tolerated short stays. It asked whether the internal rules expressly permitted them. A reglamento that says nothing on the subject gives a much weaker answer than one that addresses it directly. Read against that draft, a rental-minded purchase in Las Terrenas raises three document questions:

1. What the condominium rules say about stays shorter than a month. A building with an express permission, an express prohibition, or no language at all would sit in a different position under the July 2026 draft.
2. Whether the project runs its own rental program, and on what terms. Some Las Terrenas developments build rental into the offering. Cosón Bay describes a rental program for its Casitas that keeps hotel standards and gives owners and guests access to hotel services. Its public materials do not say whether owners must join or whether minimum rental periods apply. At Playa Bonita, the developer of The Reef lists hotel management among the project's features but does not publish terms on short-stay use.
3. Who would be the host of record. The draft would have covered owners, administrators, hosts and service providers. In a building with an on-site management company, the documents should show which party holds that role.

None of this is settled law. Each question can be answered from a building's documents today, while the market data cannot settle the rental case on its own.

Two datasets, two stories, one shared number

Two public third-party sources track rentals on the peninsula, and they point in opposite directions.

The Airbtics figures are more than nine months old, and its page was last updated March 12, 2026. They work as history, not as a current reading. They describe a market where Las Terrenas listings more than doubled over three years while the nightly rate barely moved. That pattern fits new supply absorbing demand. AirDNA's newer page, updated October 6, 2026, describes the reverse for the wider Samaná market: fewer active listings, much fuller calendars, lower daily rates, and RevPAR up 13.6% to $74. The two sources cover different areas and count different platforms, so neither can be read as an update of the other. A drop of that size in active listings could reflect hosts leaving, a change in how listings are counted, or both. The public figures do not show which.

What the two sources agree on is the level. In both, the typical listing filled about 45% of available nights and earned in the low twenty-thousands of dollars a year. That is an average across a wide range of property types. For a specific apartment, the factors that move it above or below that range are mostly the ones in the building's documents: whether short stays are permitted, whether a hotel operator handles bookings and service, and who answers to the platform.

Where the guests come from, and when

Samaná's international air link is small. From January through July 2026, El Catey received 53,885 nonresident tourists, 0.9% of the 5,885,025 who arrived in the country by air, according to Central Bank figures reported by Acento. The monthly figures fall sharply. January brought 10,550 arrivals, May 4,740 and July 6,242. Carlos Peguero, vice minister of tourism for international cooperation, told Acento that the province needs more scheduled flights landing directly in Samaná. "Yo creo que el desafío de esta región, de esta provincia, está en tener una mayor conectividad," he said. The ministry is also working on the Arroyo Barril tourism port in Sánchez.

Hotel data follows the same seasonal pattern. Samaná–Las Terrenas hotels ran at 55% occupancy in September 2026, based on MITUR figures reported by Resumen Turismo. Provincial hotel occupancy was 68% in August, according to Acento. With a thin air link and soft shoulder months, the units that keep booking outside peak season tend to be those that reach guests through a hotel operator's channels as well as the platforms. That depends on the building's arrangements more than on the market as a whole.

The national numbers explain why a registry will likely return. Vice minister Jacqueline Mora told Forbes RD that the country has about 56,000 properties in the non-hotel segment. In her figures, guests staying in non-hotel lodging rose from 1.2 million to 2.7 million between 2018 and 2024. At the Asonahores 2026 trade exhibition, economist Nassim Alemany put platform supply at about 86,000 rooms at the end of 2025, compared with roughly 93,000 hotel rooms, elDinero reported. He also noted that the segment still lacks official statistics as detailed as those for hotels. A sector close to the size of the hotel industry, with limited official data, is the kind of sector a registry is designed to measure.

Questions buyers raise

Is there a short-term rental registry in force in the Dominican Republic today? No regulation from the July 2026 RENATUR draft is in effect. Forbes RD reported the proposal was withdrawn before the consultation concluded, and as of September 7, 2026 the President described regulation as still under study.

Are short-term rental platforms charging ITBIS now? DGII said in May 2026 that it was developing a proposal for 18% ITBIS on digital platforms. The reporting describes a proposal, not a collection system in operation. Tax treatment for a specific property is a question for a qualified Dominican tax professional.

Which figure should be used for Las Terrenas occupancy? The figures available in public reporting do not give a current short-term rental occupancy rate for Las Terrenas alone. AirDNA's 45% for September 2025 to September 2026 covers the wider Samaná market across three platforms. Hotel occupancy for Samaná–Las Terrenas measures a different type of lodging.

Before you commit to a Las Terrenas residence on the strength of its rental case, the condominium rules, the terms of any rental program and the host-of-record arrangement should all be in hand. Piantini | Christie's International Real Estate reviews these documents privately with buyers on the Samaná Peninsula. To see Las Terrenas residences whose rental terms have already been documented, select Receive Exclusive Listings.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.