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According to a press release from the president of the Civil Aviation Board (JAC), Luis Ernesto Camilo Garcia, visiting passenger numbers to the Dominican Republic grew by 4.2% in 2017, with an increase from North America (Canada, United States and Mexico) of 1.6%. Air travel from the Caribbean is up by 4.1% and from Central America 3.7%.<\/p>\n
There were 5,354,017 foreign visitors with 56.4% coming from North America, 4.6% from Central America and the Caribbean, 12.8% from South America and 25.9% from Europe. The main source markets in Europe were Russia, Germany, France, England and Spain.<\/p>\n
The number of female passengers arriving by air increased by 9.1% over the previous year and there was an increase in young passengers, between 0-12 years, making up 35.2% of the total, with those between 13 and 20 years increasing by 12.5%.<\/p>\n
Dominican international airports carried out more than 102,373 flight operations in 2017, transporting 13,770,551 passengers. This is 637,000 more passengers or 4.9% more than in 2016, according to statistics from the Civil Aviation Board (JAC) of the Dominican Republic. Of these, there were 6,935,292 departures and 6,835,259 arrivals.<\/p>\n
Some 12,126,642 (88.1%) of the passengers used regular airline flights, and another 1,643,879 (11.9%) came on charters. The president of the JAC says this shows the strong positioning of the Dominican Republic as a destination for international travelers. When the tourism industry was in its early years, most tourists arrived on charter flights.<\/p>\n