- Thread starter badpiece33
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When will DR open for International travel??????
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I would wait till travel restrictions are lifted, not rely on Nostradamus.
This is a board of "opinions".. With that in mind, if you wait, you will pay more and might not fly on dates and time you would have liked. IMHO.
Airlines like ex. JetBlue are offering book now and cancel 24 hours prior to your schedule flight without penalty fees. Make sure you read and understand the rules and cancelation fees before commiting.
You can BOOK a flight to the DR for October right now no problem.
The issue is whether the flight you book will actually FLY in October. That is the big unknown at this point. And is based on several unkowns:
1- When will the DR government open the border again?
(that is dependent on multiple health and economic issues).
2-Even when the DR government does open the border, will tourists from other countries be willing/able to vacation here?
(that is also dependent on multiple health, economic, psychological, and marketing issues).
3- When the DR government opens the borders will airlines actually fly here if there isn’t enough demand to make the flight financially viable?
(Airlines may have to reduce seats to increase spacing/social distancing on the plane. That may cause higher ticket prices. Will tourists be willing/able to pay those higher prices?)
There are several more, but I trust you get my point. It’s a “moving target” with no definitive answer right now.
I've posted this before, but I think it bears repeating. The airlines are in a severe financial crunch. Reports I’ve seen say their business is down 95%! They have a major cash flow problem.
To increase their cash flow, it is in their interest to continue to sell you and I tickets. You buy a ticket today for a flight in October and the airline gets an inflow of your cash NOW. If come October they have to cancel the flight (because the border is still closed or low demand) they will then issue you an travel voucher good for 12-24 months for the price you paid for the ticket.
So in effect, you are giving the airline an interest free loan until you actually use the voucher (6-30 months from now).
IMO, International leisure travel wont return until people and governments feel that the virus is no longer a threat. That will probably happen when we have a vaccine. Most experts say that is still 12 months or so away. (I hope they are wrong and a vaccine comes much sooner).
And like Austriaco mentioned and I have mentioned it before. Governments will not want to be repatriating their citizens soon again. There are still people trying to get back to their country of origin.
So if the above applies, maybe it follows that it would be a good idea to buy a ticket at today's prices, get the travel voucher and fly later having paid today's prices rather than wait to book and pay higher prices later. ???
In regards to New York, all you have to do is turn on the daily news for the last two months to see examples of the lines of sick people, lack of ventilators, people being wheeled out back doors under the cover of darkness, and mass graves. It has been documented.
To date, there have been no riots and lootings in New York.
As far as Santo Domingo, I am still attempting to decipher your narrative, but it is a bit warm for that with this afternoon's heat.
You should try using the email method of communicating with the US Embassy. They have been responding back in a timely fashion.
If you wait until July, that will still give you a 90 day window to purchase, if you are concerned about pricing. Why rush into the unknown?
The only downside would be if the airline goes out of business before you fly. That is the only thing holding me back as there are some good deals out there now.
Is this a joke? You're so funny. Or you are talking about the footage that is the same for most of the cities? Wondering why the hallways are same in Italy and Madrid and NY...
I am planning on going to Europe to visit family after this for 2-3 months. I am saying October or maybe even later but at the latest at Christmas I hope. Then I don’t think I will be disappointed.
Boots on the ground in NYC. NO such things at this point of time. I know from a top of the line source they are starting to take the beds out of the Javits Center and hoping they can restart conventions shortly before the end of year.. (every convention was cancelled through OCT. )
For me personally , the issue is not when the DR will open. We know that will happen out of necessity in the not too distant future. The real issue is, will the seasonal tourist with no family or business ties return to the DR in the next 12 months.
For me personally, my wife have been taking at least one , but sometimes two DR vacations a year for the last 20 years. I can say there is a VERY real chance we will not return in the winter of 2021. This saddens me but I know we are not alone in this thought.
My apologies if a similar sentiment has already been expressed in the previous 20 + pages. Admittedly I did not read them all. If this was repetitive carry on.....
For me personally, my wife have been taking at least one , but sometimes two DR vacations a year for the last 20 years. I can say there is a VERY real chance we will not return in the winter of 2021. This saddens me but I know we are not alone in this thought.
My apologies if a similar sentiment has already been expressed in the previous 20 + pages. Admittedly I did not read them all. If this was repetitive carry on.....
Price is no issue. Just wondering if in October the Dominican Republic will allow a gringo to return
Wait, wasnt I just told not to trust the media and rely only on personal observation?
last time I checked fox they did not paint such a grim picture.
But to deciver my message: I was writing you can not conclude on base of personal observations nor necesarily on media reports. You can see it in the numbers if those are correct. New york has 1200 death per 100000, italy, france, spain 40, austria 6, DR 3 but as I said many times before is more between 6 and 12 in real numbers.
Of course Santo Domingo even in my estimation is by far not as bad as New York and anyone going back to New York for health reasons made the wrong decission. I am not contradicting that, just saying it is however not the perfect paradise the doiminican numbers paint. No doomsday prediction, but not closing the eyes either.
sane with mortality, will be neither the 0.1 nor the 10%, as always with such things the truth is in the middle. Like 1% / still 10 worse the flu. Saying that for a month, finally some newer antibody studies seem to confirm it.
now to stay on topic: given that estimate opening travell this summer will be a challenge but as it is not doomsday coming it is likely to come in some limited way of some travelling and tourismo.
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