The tourist destination of Puerto Plata, the main hub in the northern region of the country, is the most recent Dominican destination to benefit from the unrestricted reactivation of air traffic between Russia and the DR after the arrival today of flight S351 of Norwind Airlines, an operating fleet of the important Russian tour operator Pegas Touristik.
With the addition of Puerto Plata, there are now four Dominican destinations served by direct flights originating in Russia, after an executive order of the government of the Russian Federation on August 9 reopened the borders, and another decree on August 27 eliminated all quantitative restrictions on flights between the two countries.
After the reopening of Puerto Plata, an Azur Air flight with more than 500 passengers landed at La Romana Airport on August 9, inaugurating the post-pandemic reception of Russian tourists in the country. Later, on 31 August, Royal Flights flight RL571 from Moscow’s Sheremetevo airport landed at Punta Cana airport.
The Dominican ambassador to Russia, Hans Dannenberg Castellanos, pointed out that Russian tour operators have begun to report a high demand for reservations of vacation packages for next fall and winter. The diplomat explained that due to the popularity of the Dominican Republic destination, Russians have already started to refer to our country as “their dacha outside Russia” in reference to the traditional rest houses on the outskirts of the big cities that many Russian families use for their holiday retreats.
In the coming weeks direct flights are expected to be inaugurated from other Russian cities in Siberia and the Urals that have never had direct routes to the Dominican Republic.