ROSEAU, Dominica — Dominica has welcomed the decision by American Airlines to begin daily flights into the island from the United States, with Tourism, International Transport and Maritime Initiatives Minister Denise Charles describing it “as a very exciting time for us.

“We have finally commenced daily flights from the US market and I can tell you we are seeing an increase in visitors from the US because of the direct flights on American Airlines.

“In 2019, for example, we had about 14 per cent visitors from the US market and already, just looking at the data for March 2022 compared to March 2019, we saw that the number of people coming from the US to Dominica have already doubled,” Charles said.

American Airlines had last year started serving the route with two flights weekly, increasing the service to three flights and a daily service effective the week of April 4.

Charles said as a result, Dominica will be having daily flights out of Miami, adding “this is really an exciting time for us,” urging stakeholders to take advantage of the new initiative.

“That has made a tremendous difference in the number of people visiting us from our major source market which is great for the resorts and the hoteliers and tour operators. The hotels are reporting an increase in bookings, many people are coming here for scuba diving and wellness packages.

“So it means we are recovering post-COVID, the tourism industry is seeing strong signs of recovery and we have to continue as a people to promote our destination,” Charles added.