The Cabinet of Tourism agreed with ASONAHORES and hotel representatives to guarantee the stays of Ukrainian and Russian tourists who are in the country in those resorts, until a definitive solution is found to their situation, following the conflict that has arisen in their countries.
The decision was taken within the framework of a meeting of the Tourism Cabinet, headed by Minister David Collado, convened on an emergency basis to deal exclusively with this issue.
According to preliminary surveys, a total of 16,927 visitors with Russian or Ukrainian residency are currently in the country, most of them staying in different hotels.
As for Russian tourists, who amount to 14,806 and are staying in La Altagracia and a smaller group in Santo Domingo, the process of return to their country has been agreed with the main Russian tour operators.
Regarding Ukrainian visitors, the main Ukrainian tour operator has identified a total of 1,903 who are still in the country, of which 1,688 are adults and 215 are children. These are staying in their respective hotels, where they will remain until there is a solution for their return home.
Likewise, it was agreed, in the meeting of the Tourism Cabinet, to carry out in the next 48 hours, an operation in the hotels in order to verify the particular needs of each family.
During the meeting, Minister Collado made it clear that for “the Dominican Government and the Cabinet of Tourism, the safety and well-being of all tourists is a priority”.
He also said that both the private tourism sector and the Government will do everything necessary so that the families from Russia and Ukraine feel our warmth, security and support in this situation.
The official summoned, once again, the Tourism Cabinet to follow up on the measures that have been adopted and to see the results of the survey that was carried out and to make the necessary decisions.
During 2021 Russia and Ukraine accounted for more than 244 thousand passengers, and during January and February 2022 totaled 109,110 passengers. This has accounted for 10% of the country’s tourism.
The impact of this drop will be compensated with the reactivation of different traditional markets such as Canada, France, United Kingdom and South American countries.
In fact, in the last 6 months Canada increased from 10,620 passengers per month to more than 50,000 passengers in February, while France went from 5,844 to 32,503 in February and the United Kingdom from 442 to 12,473 passengers.
The diversity of arrivals is one of the great strengths of our destination, which means that the impact of the current situation can be mitigated in the coming months, with an expected year-end higher than the pre-pandemic period.
The public-private emergency committee is in permanent session identifying specific actions for this recovery.
