The Plan and Budget for 2015 will allocate 191 million Euros to the areas under the administration of the Regional Secretariat for Tourism and Transport, which represents "an increase of 23%," said Vítor Fraga. The government official stressed that the documents reflect the work that "has been jointly developed with social partners and Azorean citizens" in order to better respond to the challenges the Azores are facing in these two sectors.

Speaking to journalists after being heard by the Committee on Economic Affairs at the Legislative Assembly, the Regional Secretary stressed that the plan for the transport sector is based on "the three axes of the Integrated Transport Plan (PIT): infrastructures, framework and measures. It aims to provide a service of quality and excellence that is in line with the key idea of the PIT, which is to achieve operational excellence."

With regard to Tourism, Vítor Fraga stated that the Plan "reflects a clear strategy of consolidation of all the work that has been done over the years to strengthen our presence in the main tourism markets as well as the efforts to develop a direct communication strategy." Hence, these measures will increase the pressure on demand in order to boost tourism flows to the Region."

In this regard, the government official announced the launch of an "almost unprecedented campaign by the regional air company" on Monday. The campaign will provide 20 thousand seats in the flight connections to and from Mainland Portugal with a price set at 88 Euros, with sales during the month of November; the fare applies to flights scheduled up to the end of March. In addition to improving the mobility of the Azorean population, this initiative will contribute to the increase of tourism flows to the Azores during the low season, which will help mitigating one the challenges the destination faces: seasonality."

For Vítor Fraga, tourism "will play a significant role not only in the creation of jobs, directly, but also as driving force in the development of other sectors of activity that will naturally benefit from the growth of tourism sector."

The Regional Secretary noted that the Plan was developed in partnership with all social partners, taking into consideration "the implementation of a new accessibility model, the new Public Service Obligations for inter-island air transport and the new Public Service Obligations for inter-island maritime transport in 2015." Its main goal is to improve the mobility of the Azorean population and enhance the accessibility to the Region.