Collado: high flight costs hinder multi-destination travel with Puerto Rico

Santo Domingo.- Tourism Minister David Collado views Puerto Rico not as competition but as a partner for enhancing Caribbean tourism. He proposes combining strategies to boost multi-destination travel, leveraging the proximity between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Collado envisions European tourists visiting both destinations with just a short flight between them. However, he notes that high airfares, ranging from $160 to $400 for round trips between September and October, are a significant barrier.

To address this, Dominican airline Sky High Dominicana will resume flights to Puerto Rico in October after a five-year hiatus, connecting Santo Domingo with Aguadilla and San Juan. This new route will complement the existing service by Dominican airline Arajet, which has sought to expand to Puerto Rican routes but is awaiting approval. Currently, only JetBlue and Frontier Airlines operate flights between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

Collado emphasizes the importance of replicating successful multi-destination strategies, similar to how Caribbean and Latin American tourists visit multiple European countries in one trip. He reports that the Dominican Republic saw over 10 million tourists in 2023, with 232,176 from Puerto Rico alone. The number of Puerto Rican tourists increased by 13% from January to July 2024 compared to the previous year, with projections suggesting over 220,000 Puerto Rican visitors by year-end.