Dominican Republic publishes report on the situation of Ukrainian tourists

As a result of the situation between Russia and Ukraine, 1,744 Ukrainian and related residents have been identified as remaining in Dominican territory.

The Dominican State maintains a firm position of solidarity with the Ukrainian residents who are currently inside the Dominican Republic.

Of the 1,744 Ukrainian and related residents in the country, 1,342 are staying in hotels, and 402 in other accommodation.

The Dominican State has the personal and contact information of Ukrainians and relatives in the country to help them.

In partnership with the private sector, Ukrainians will be offered lodging and food facilities, local and international transportation.

The General Directorate of Immigration will proceed to extend the validity of the tourist card for 30 days, at no cost to the visitor.

Recent history
At the end of February 2022, international warnings began about Russia’s military presence on its border with Ukraine as a potential invasion intention. During this period, Russian troops entered Luhansk and Donetsk, breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine controlled by allegedly Russian-backed agents, under the umbrella of peacekeeping activities. Later on February 24, 2022 at the United Nations Security Council, Russian President Vladimir Putin formally announced the start of an invasion by land, sea and air against Ukrainian military assets and cities.

General profile
In an alliance between the General Directorate of Migration and the Ministry of Tourism, it has been possible to identify Ukrainians and relatives in the country with an entry migratory registry who have not yet left through a migratory point in the country. We have the information of name, passport, travel group, contact email, type of accommodation, accommodation address and hotel, and other data of this group of people thanks to the information provided by the entry and exit electronic ticket. from the Dominican Republic (E-Ticket).

From November 2021 to March 1, 2022, 44,891 people born in Ukraine have entered the Dominican Republic, of these, 29,637 reside in Ukraine; 7,525 reside in the United States; 3,587 in Russia; 2,064 in Canada; 89 in the Dominican Republic and the rest (4,053) reside in places such as Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic and other countries in the world.

To the 29,637 people with Ukrainian nationality and residence, 1,576 people born outside of Ukraine (mainly Russia) but residing in Ukraine have been added, for a total of 31,213 arrivals in the Dominican Republic of Ukrainian residents from November 2021 to December 1. March 2022.

The majority of this group, 27,141 (87%) left Boríspol airport for La Romana airport. Borispol is the most important airport in Ukraine and is located 29 km. east of Kyiv. The second route with the highest volume was Frankfurt, Germany – Punta Cana with 1,152 passengers (4% of the total). The remaining 2,920 Ukrainian residents arrived in the country through Punta Cana, La Romana and Las Américas airports departing from Russian and Ukrainian airports.

A total of 17,816 (57%) residents of Ukraine arrived by the route with the highest volume (Borispol-La Romana) on charter flights of the airline AZUR Air Ukraine (former UTair-Ukraine) and, doing this same route, 9,288 (30%). ) arrived on AZUR Air charters. Operating other routes include the German airlines Condor Flungdiest, Ukraine International Airlines, EuroWings among others.

Current situation
Of the 31,213 Ukrainian residents who entered the country in the last four months, 29,469 people have left. From February 24 to 28, 209 Ukrainian residents left the Dominican Republic and from March 1 to 3, 277 more left, for a total of 486 Ukrainians who left the country since the formal beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Of these 486, 205 people have left the Punta Cana airport for Frankfurt; 64 from Punta Cana to Zurich, Switzerland; 42 from Las Americas to Madrid; and the remaining 175 have left for Lisbon, Moscow, Paris, Brussels, among other cities.

As of March 3, there were 1,744 Ukrainian residents remaining in the Dominican Republic, most of whom (1,451) had entered the country during the month of February. Consequently, 84% of these people have been in the country for less than 30 days, 6% between 31-60 days, 5% between 61-90 days and the remaining 5% for more than 90 days. Of this group there are 521 people who came as a family, 597 young adults who came individually, 524 adults (mainly between 36-49 years old) and 102 seniors (over 50 years old).

33% of this group (576 people) reside in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev; 185 in Kharkiv (the second most populous city in Ukraine); 175 in Odessa and 102 in Dnipro. The remaining 706 people reside in other cities.

A large part (1,342) of these people are staying in hotels and the remaining 402 are private accommodation, Airbnb and the like. Of the majority of those who are in hotels, 653 people are in La Altagracia, mainly in the RIU and Barceló chains (394 people). The rest of those staying in hotels, inside or outside La Altagracia, are in the Princess, Sheraton, Iberostar, Serenade chains, among others.

Ukrainian residents in private accommodation, Airbnb and the like are concentrated in Santo Domingo (125, of which 89 are in Boca Chica), La Altagracia (74) and La Romana (64).

Through the National Association of Hotels and Restaurants (ASONAHORES) a survey was carried out in the country’s hotels to collect information directly from Ukrainians and related parties. It was found that at least 1 in 4 (25%) have relatives in countries bordering Ukraine, and that there is a marked intention to receive reception in European countries, among which Poland (47%) and Germany (28%) stand out. ).

Measures
The Dominican State maintains a firm position of solidarity with residents of Ukraine who are within the Dominican Republic. Most of these visitors relied on the tourist attraction and security offered by the Dominican Republic to vacation with their families, and now they should feel just as confident that the country is implementing short and medium-term solutions for their situation.

In the meeting held today by the Tourism Cabinet, short-term actions were clearly established to manage the situation of residents of Ukraine who were doing tourism in the Dominican Republic, at the time of the start of the armed conflict in That country.

In alliance with the tourism value chain, available rooms have been identified in the North zone, Puerto Plata, where hotels will be applying a solidarity rate for 15 days to residents of Ukraine who are visiting the Dominican Republic in the period between January 1, 2022 until March 2022. This rate would cover food and lodging expenses. The Dominican Government through the Ministry of Tourism will be covering said rate. After these 15 days, visitors who have not been able to leave the Dominican Republic will be transferred to the Olympic Village and other shelters, where they will have lodging and food through the cheap dining rooms.

For those who have loved ones or other means of accommodation available abroad, the TUI airline has agreed to coordinate and cover the costs of humanitarian flights to travel to countries closer to Ukraine, as well as hotel-airport transfers. This tourist airline is also in a position to partially or totally pay for your temporary stay in the country. Three routes are currently being identified to be included in this initiative. In addition, talks are underway with other airlines and tour operators to expand departure options. Likewise, the airport authorities are providing facilities to the airlines with the aim of speeding up such transfers. The first humanitarian flight has already taken place, bound for the Netherlands, with more than 300 people.

For these residents of Ukraine, who are in the country within the same period of time mentioned above, the General Directorate of Migration will proceed to extend the validity of the tourist card for 30 days, at no cost to the visitor.

For those who are in hotels during the 48-hour period that began on February 28, during the meeting of the Tourism Cabinet, ASONAHORES will be together with the hotels coordinating the transfer processes, from their current hotel to the hotels identified in the Puerto Plata area, including transportation costs. These transfers will take place from March 4 to March 6, and during this period, which began on March 3, the hotels where they are staying will apply a solidarity rate which will be paid for by the Dominican Government, through the Ministry of Tourism.

For those visitors who are in the Dominican Republic and who are staying in other accommodations, different from a hotel and who have entered the country as of January 1, 2022, they must go to the Tourist Destination Management Offices of the Ministry of Tourism, where their status in the Dominican Republic will be validated with a previous list and if they meet the requirements, they will be transferred to the accommodation designated by the Government for these purposes.

It is important to note that those Ukrainian nationals who are residing in the Dominican Republic, with a regularized or non-regularized status, do not apply for these solutions, and must follow the procedures established in Dominican law.