25 Private Pilots from the United States Will Participate in the 2nd International Fly-In

A group of 25 private US pilots will take part, starting this Friday, in the second International Fly-In that will visit our country, following the implementation of Decree169-08 which eliminates airports taxes for these types of private flights.

The aviators are mainly coming from the East Coast and center of the United States and will fly some six hours to the Cibao International Airport…

The aviators are mainly coming from the East Coast and center of the United States and will fly some six hours to the Cibao International Airport, making a stop on their way to the Bahamas for fueling.

They will be accompanied by an important aviation tourism promoter James Parker, President of Caribbean Flying Adventures. Upon arrival he will be greeted by an official committee made up of Dominican Tourism Minister Francisco Javier Garcia; the US Ambassador in the DR, Robert Fanning; José Tomás Pérez, Director of the Dominican Institute of Civil Aviation (IDAC); Director for Ports and Airports, Andrés Van der Horst, among other authorities.

This year´s Fly-In is the product of institutional actions as well as those of the Ministry of Tourism (SECTUR), IDAC and the Department of Ports and Airports.

Trip to Include Stops in Various Tourism Areas

The pilots are intending to land at midday on Friday October 10 at the Cibao International Airport where a lunch sponsored by IDAC will be held in their honor. Later in the afternoon, they will take a trip to some of the main tourist attractions in Santiago, such as artisan shops, the Monument to the Heroes of the Restoration, the Grand Theater of Cibao, the Madre and Maestra Pontifical Catholic University and the León Center.

They will spend the night at the Camp David Ranch Hotel. At night they´ll enjoy a show put on by the Conjunto Típico and SECTUR´s Folkloric Ballet Company.

At 11:00 a.m. on Saturday October 11, the group will fly for an hour to Constanza where they will also be met by an official delegation headed by Director of the Tourism Office, Johnny Tactuk and Director of Ecotourism, Mariam Matías. They will travel to various points, among them being the business installations of the Sazón Constanza and the Rancho Guaraguao where they will have breakfast. After that, they´ll participate in a tour of the vegetable farms, hothouses and the Alto Cerro Hotel.

Those who engage in Air Tourism or Private Aviation Tourism are generally people with large spending power whose average expenses on a trip like this can exceed $3,000 in a period of three days.

At night, SECTUR will host a dinner at the Alto Cerro Hotel which will include a show.

The schedule for Sunday October 12th includes a visit to the Cuevade las Maravillas and lunch, courtesy of the Department of Ports and Airports. Arrival at the Punta Cana International Airport is expected to be at 2:30 in the afternoon.

During Sunday evening and all day Monday the 13th, the group will remain in Punta Cana where they will be able to either visit real estate projects or tourism spots in the area. At approximately 10 a.m. on Tuesday October 14, they will return again to the Bahamas then on to the United States.

A Tourism Niche for High Flyers

Nearly all the planes that make up the Fly-In are Cessna 172´s (there are also 3 executive planes) and each pilot travels with friends or family members. All together, some 60 people are expected to land on Dominican soil.

There is also the possibility that this group may join some of the pilots from the San Juan (Puerto Rico) Air Club which, last August, formed part of the First International Fly-In.

Those who engage in Air Tourism or Private Aviation Tourism are generally people with large spending power whose average expenses on a trip like this can exceed $3,000 in a period of three days. The Bahamas annually receives 45,000 private flights per year.

In many cases, these are business people who tend to invest in real estate and other areas of the tourism industry. That being the case, their visit to the DR bodes well for business opportunities for the sector and for the general population.

Decree 169-08, released by President Leonel Fernandez last March, eliminates airport taxes for national and international private pilots who are flying planes that weigh less than 30,000 pounds and are carrying a maximum of 12 passengers.

This crucial initiative on the part of the President marks a strategy intended to diversify the Dominican tourism industry, giving it a potential for more growth.

By January of next year, the 3rd International Fly-In is expected and welcome to the Dominican Republic.