Praia da Vitória, Azores, Portugal, Oct. 11, 2024 (Lusa) - Terceira Island, in the Azores, and the city of Porto are going to be promoted together in the United States in a tourist package, presented on Friday, that offers "UNESCO heritage cities that freedom unites".
"We felt that what united us historically was too much and that there was great potential here that could be exploited as a differentiating tourist product, unique to the Azores. This is the first time that a product has been structured in this way and we're trying to leverage two destinations, combining the best they have to offer," said the president of the Angra do Heroísmo Chamber of Commerce (CCAH), Marcos Couto, at a press conference at the Lajes Civil Airfield on Terceira island.
The idea came up at the Global Exploration Summit (Glex), which this year took place in Angra do Heroísmo, on Terceira island, and in the city of Porto.
The two cities have in common the fact that they are United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites, the role they both played in the civil war between liberals and absolutists in Portugal, gastronomy and wine.
It was on the basis of these similarities that the business association and the local council created an itinerary for "tourists who aren't looking for the banal" and who want to learn about the history of the two cities.
The aim is to mitigate the seasonality of tourism and consolidate the North American market in the two destinations.
"We have the same challenge, which is to overcome seasonality. Although at the moment the North American market is Porto's second market, we really want to consolidate it. We're looking to attract markets with high purchasing power and the United States is undoubtedly the market we want to consolidate," explained Catarina Santos Cunha, the Porto city council councillor responsible for tourism.
The Azorean airline Azores Arlines, part of the SATA group, already connects Terceira to Boston on a weekly basis and three weeks ago announced a weekly route to New York in the low season.
The island also has six weekly connections to Porto in winter, four with Azores Airlines and two with Ryanair.
These connections allow packages of seven or 14 days' holiday to be offered on the North American market, divided between Terceira and Porto.
If the two US routes reach 100% occupancy, around 400 holidaymakers a week are expected.
However, the late announcement of the flight could affect the occupancy rate, according to Marcos Couto.
"The product itself is consistent, but the connections have not been. Despite the difficulties of an extremely late launch of a flight like this, we are convinced that we will be able to overcome these difficulties and work to make the flight a success," he emphasised.
The president of the Angra do Heroísmo Chamber of Commerce (CCAH) argued that it was important for the flight to continue in order to consolidate the destinations, but did not confirm that Azores Airlines had any guarantees that it would maintain the route.
"A product of this quality, with a properly structured commitment like never before, I want to believe that the company will understand our efforts," he said.
Catarina Santos Cunha also emphasised that "only consistency brings results", claiming that the operation "can't be a one-off in winter".
"We are strongly committed to making this ‘stopover’ something that lasts not only this winter, but for the next few," she emphasised.
Asked about the amount involved in the campaign, the president of the business association didn't reveal any figures.
"It's a joint investment between the Porto city council and the regional government of the Azores and, at the moment, what we're doing is closing the file," he said.
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Lusa
