Travel from Chile and Argentina to the Dominican Republic is on the rise as the South Americans discover the comfort and style of the Dominican beach resorts. Dominicans are also booking excursions to discover the fjords and cultural attractions of the two South American countries. The enhanced non stop flights are making travel easy.
Minister of Tourism David Collado says the expectation is for travel from Chile to reach 200,000 visitors this 2025.
Chile now ranks among the fastest-growing outbound markets to the DR. In 2024, almost 150,000 Chileans visited. Of these, 145,005 were Chilean tourists, with the remainder being Dominican residents in Chile. Some 52,661 visitors have come from Chile in the first four months of 2025.
Improved air connections are the main factor spurring the flow of tourists, with competition from the DR-based airline Arajet making a difference.
In 2024, airlines —including Arajet— transported the 150,412 travelers between Santiago (Chile) and the Dominican Republic, a 12% increase over 2023, a 19% rise from 2022, and 27% growth compared to 2019.
Dominican ambassador in Chile Juan Cohen highlighted during the recent roadshow presentation in Santiago de Chile that the growing interest of Chileans in visiting the DR has motivated many to consider investing in real estate and tourism ventures.
Jacqueline Mora, technical vice minister of the Ministry of Tourism, was recently in Santiago de Chile and when presenting at the tourism roadshow at the Hotel Mandarin Oriental, highlighted that growth in tourism flow is greatest from South America. The roadshow presented the attractions of the country to the travel agencies, tour operators, authorities, airlines and the specialized press and other tourism industry stakeholders.
Mora highlighted that the increase in travel comes at a time when South American travelers have replaced European travelers in the Dominican travel market mix. European travel is affected by the impact of the Ukranian war on the finances of potential European travelers.
The main reason for the boom in travel with South America is the improved air connections with Arajet opening up new gateways in South American countries. Arajet has flights to both Santo Domingo’s Las Americas International Airport (SDQ) and to the gateway to the beach destinations, Punta Cana International Airport (PUJ). Local South American airlines have also increased their frequencies to the country and added new destinations.
For instance, Arajet just recently announced the start of flights this winter season to the second largest city in Argentina, Cordoba. Arajet already flies to Buenos Aires.
The flights from Punta Cana International Airport (PUJ) to Ingeniero Aeronáutico Ambrosio L.V. Taravella International Airport (COR) in Cordoba, Argentina will start 1 November 2025. Cordoba is the second largest city in Argentina.
With this new frequency, the DR will offer 18 flights a week to Argentine destinations. The Arajet flights go on sale 1 July 2025, with bookings for three weekly flights on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. This is the only airline to offer the Cordoba-Punta Cana route.
Likewise, Arajet has announced it is resuming its Buenos Aires-Santo Domingo frequency with flights on Mondays and Friday starting 12 December 2025, in time for summer in southern Argentina. Bariloche and the fjords are on the bucket list of many Dominican travelers.
Arajet has announced increases in the frequencies of its Buenos Aires to Punta Cana direct flights.
There are expectation that by December 2025, the major snag to the increased development of travel between Argentina and the Dominican Republic, the visa requirements of the government of Argentina for Dominican citizens, will be resolved. The Argentinean visas are costly US$150 regular and US$400 VIP but both require a tedious red tape procedure that has resulted in many Dominicans being discouraged from visiting.
When in Argentina for the 2025 roadshow promotion, Tourism Minister David Collado held conversations with the Minister of Tourism of Argentina Daniel Osvaldo Scioli who has said he would lobby on behalf of the Dominican government so that Dominicans who already have a US visa be exempt of the regular visa procedures.
Dominican ambassador Dr. Jorge Marte Baez has said his follow-up to encourage the government of Argentina to take steps to remove the visa requirement is a priority of his efforts for bilateral relations in Argentina.
One argument pressed to the Argentineans is that the Chileans allow Dominicans who have a US visa to travel to Chile and this has been working well for both countries. The sacrifice of visa revenues is multiplied by the increase in travel of affluent Dominicans.
Read more in Spanish:
Listin Diario
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PNVC
Mitur
1 July 2025