On February 19, an important event for the tourism sector in the Dominican Republic took place with the landing, for the first time in over a decade, of a charter flight of an Icelandic airline with tourists from that country.
Flight FI1047 landed at Punta Cana International Airport with 182 passengers. According to information released by the Ministry of Tourism of the Dominican Republic, it was part of a charter operation organized by FiTravel. This is a leading Icelandic group that in the outbound market operates under the brands Urval Utsyn, Sumarferdir, and Plus Ferdir. While in the inbound market works with Welcome Incoming Services of the Avoris Corporación Empresarial group, under the management of José Alarcón in the Dominican Republic.
The operation was carried out in Icelandair’s Boeing 757-200, registration TF-FIU. It operated non-stop from Reykjavik. Upon disembarking, passengers were greeted with a performance by the Ministry of Tourism’s folkloric ballet.
«We hope that this initiative from a market that was absent for more than 10 years can represent support to the objective of our Ministry of Tourism to continue the reactivation of Dominican Tourism through the diversification of air routes. This will further rebound the country’s economy,» commented Jarolin De La Cruz, director of the Scandinavia Tourism Promotion Office.
In January 2022, the Dominican Republic received 530,956 non-resident tourists by air, 129% higher than in the same month of 2021. Of that total, 55% arrived through the Punta Cana airport, according to data from the Dominican Ministry of Tourism.
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