IATA highlights tourist boom in Dominican Republic: “It progresses as if it were under normal conditions”

Peter Cerdá, Regional Vice President for the Americas of the International Air Transport Association ( IATA ), explained that Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Costa Rica are markets that have recovered “because even today no type of antigen test or PCR is required, or show if they are vaccinated or not. They are operating as if they were under normal conditions, allowing for a much faster recovery.

“There are markets that are advancing much faster, that are going to reach the goal that they had in 2019 before 2023 or 2024, but it has depended a lot on how the markets have been reopening,” he added.

In addition, he said that “however, the situation varies by country, since in 2021 Mexico recovered international traffic, while the national one even exceeded that of 2019.”

He indicated that it is a projection since there are still countries that have their borders closed, others that maintain sanitary protocols that slow down the situation, and the effects that the conflict in Russia and Ukraine may have for the sector are still unknown, as well as the cost of the fuels.

“As for profits, they expect that from 2024, airlines will recover the international traffic they had in 2019, while they calculate that by mid-2023 global domestic traffic could be recovered,” he added.

Cerdá, who offered the details when participating in the Aviation Day Forum in Ecuador, assured that despite everything, the Latin American region is, at the moment, “the best located, compared to Europe, Asia, and Africa, where they are still suffering the pandemic or other factors that are not allowing a recovery.