Azores Airlines emerges from the need to "be closer" with "high quality" service, says Vítor Fraga
The Regional Secretary for Tourism and Transport stated in New Bedford, USA, that the Azores Airlines is not born of "the desire to have new planes or a new image, but to provide a response to the need of being closer, based on a high quality service."
Speaking Thursday at the presentation ceremony of the new image of Azores Airlines, Vítor Fraga stressed the need to "continue to be creative and ambitious, to create new forms of relation" between all islands of the archipelago and the Diaspora communities.
As member of the Regional Government, "which is the true representative of those who are the true shareholders of SATA, i.e., the Azorean people, the Regional Secretary noted that he is attending the ceremony to "restate the commitment that they can rely on Grupo SATA and Azores Airlines to maintain and strengthen the ties between the Region and Azorean communities."
"We always need more Azoreans or more people linked to the Azores to take part in all actions that contribute to our growth and development," added the government official.
In his speech, the Regional Secretary stressed the need to further work "so that we can continue building an even better Region to project it into the future and give a more effective meaning to the image of the Azores of today."
With regard to the results achieved by the tourism sector last year, Vítor Fraga pointed out that "2015 was the best year ever in the history of tourism in the Azores," registering "the best figures in nearly all indicators."
For the Regional Secretary, "these results do not arise by chance." They are the logical consequence of the efforts that have been developed by public and private entities over the years."
"In 2015, there was an increase of 19.6% in the Region and the tourism sector has grown 33.3% in the Azores since the Government led by Vasco Cordeiro entered into office," revealed the Regional Secretary. In this context, the government official added that, after the inauguration, the Government defined the USA and Canada as "two priority markets, where it is essential to increase the number of tourists visiting the Azores and, consequently, the number of overnight stays."
"We have changed the strategy, we have improved connectivity and we now have a strategy based on direct communication with potential tourists. From the 36,000 overnight stays (USA) in 2012, we registered 72 thousand overnight stays in 2015. In turn, the number of overnight stays (Canada) grew from 19 thousand in 2012 to 37 thousand in 2015."
"In these key markets where our community is ever present, we have managed to double the flow of tourists to our Region over the last three years," said the Regional Secretary.
Vítor Fraga pointed out that this is not just the Government's mission. In fact, it is the mission of all entities, public entities and, above all, private entities. According to him, there are still room for these figures to grow.
"This is the ambition that drives us and we are counting on you for that. Our emigrants are our true ambassadors. They are the true ambassadors of the Azores Destination. There is no one who knows us better than you; there is no one better than you to help us promoting our archipelago. I am sure they have done it and I am sure they will continue to do so, bearing in mind the importance of this situation," said the Regional Secretary.