Approximately 3,000 tourists estimate that the Dominican Republic Hotel and Tourism Association (Asonahores) will end its arrival in the country from the United Kingdom, after the Government announced the cancellation of flights from that destination starting December 22 last year, by detecting a new strain of Covid -19.
Asonahores Executive Vice President Andrés Marranzini, although he said it was too early to assess the impact of the move, said that with the suspension of British Airways’ three weekly flights, it could affect around 3,000 passengers.
He said, however, that this measure to suspend flights, despite reducing the arrival of tourists from that destination, sends a positive signal to visitors from other countries about the security that the Dominican Republic offers to those who decide to land.
“We will focus on the fact that this decision was made because it had to be made, a correct decision, not because of what we lost, we won because others who travel to the Dominican Republic feel confident that (the country) does not receive tourists. for receiving tourists, but it has security criteria, “he said.
In view of the situation in the United Kingdom with the new strain of coronavirus, the public health and tourism authorities have asked the Civil Aviation Committee (JAC) to suspend flights from that nation as a precautionary measure, which has been approved and implemented. in force since December 22.
Marranzini stressed that at present the country cannot focus on what it loses, but on what it gains when it takes responsible measures that send the message to tourists from other countries that the Dominican Republic is a safe destination. He added that a good number of flights continue to arrive from America and from Dominicans living abroad.
Quarantine passengers
All passengers who have been in the United Kingdom in the last two weeks will be subject to a mandatory quarantine upon arrival in the Dominican Republic as part of new preventive measures to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 contagion in the country.
The measure applies to passengers at airports managed by Aeropuertos Dominicanos XXI (Aerodom), as explained by Luis López Mena, the consortium’s director of corporate communications.
“It has now been established that all people who have been in the UK in the last two weeks will be subject to a mandatory quarantine upon arrival in the country as a preventive health measure against Covid-19,” he said.
They don’t come from Italy either
According to the Dominican Association of Tour Operators (Adotur), the country does not receive tourists from England and Italy either. “We receive a weekly charter flight from Spain, France and Germany. We receive commercial flights every day “, explained the president of Adotur, Jacinto Fernández. Adotur brings together 105 travel agency companies.
According to the flight schedule from the 28th of this month until January 3, 2021, of Corporación Aeroportuaria del Este, SA, flight A320, from London, England, is registered by the airline Frontier Airlines, this Monday the 28th with the route ORD-PUJ-ORD . (Chicago / Punta Cana).
In addition, there are flights from the United States and Canada and Spain, countries where the new variant of coronavirus is circulating.
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2019
At the beginning of the pandemic, Salud Pública set up two centers at Las Américas airport where passengers were sent in mandatory quarantine.
One of the centers authorized by Public Health operated at the Boca Chica Naval Base and another at the Customs Club, on Las Américas Boulevard.