Liberia
Airport To Welcome Charter Flights From
Brussels
(InfoWebPress ) – The Costa Rican Tourism
Institute (ICT) announced that a new charter
flight originating in Brussels will soon be
arriving in Liberia, promising to bring at
least 2,655 European tourists to Costa Rican
in a four-month period.
Jetair Flight Holidays is the airline making
the journey between Brussels and Liberia’s
Daniel Oduber International Airport on a
weekly basis, with a layover in a Caribbean
destination yet to be announced.
According to Maria Amalia Revelo, ICT’s
marketing manager, the charter flight will
operate from November 2009 and March 2010.
It is estimated that the flight will bring
some 120 tourists each week to Liberia, or
half the seats available in the Jetair
Flight Holidays aircraft.
“This is great news for Costa Rica,” Revelo
said. “Belgium, to us, is a very interesting
market which, as we have seen, generates
more and more visitors each year.”
With the goal of opening up this new tourist
route, a cooperative campaign is being
implemented, for which Jetair NV (Jetair
Flight Holidays’ tour operator) and ICT will
each invest $46,600.
A cooperative campaign is a joint promotion
initiative that requires investment in equal
shares by ICT and wholesalers, airlines or
trade partners — whether domestic or
international.
In the case of Brussels, total investment in
the promotional campaign is $93,200, which
will be used for publicity efforts including
full-color ads in Belgian newspaper — such
as Corelio and De Persgroep, which reach
approximately 1 million people.
The campaign will also include presence at
tourism fairs visited by some 1,000 travel
agencies; information delivery to databases
with 185,000 contacts; ads in specialized
publications; and development of materials
touting Costa Rica’s attractions to
distribute to 2,500 travel and publicity
agents via Jetair Flight Holidays’ website
and in-flight magazine.
European tourism has greatly contributed to
filling the void left by dwindling U.S.
travelers due to the ongoing recession. One
of the European countries that has
contributed the most tourists to Costa Rica
is Spain. According to data from tourism
officials, based on reports from the only
Spanish airline that flights to Costa Rica,
some 25,000 from that country will come to
Costa Rica this year.
Last year, some 190,000 European tourists
visited Costa Rica — a 21 percent increase
compared to 2007.
This year, some 215,000 Europeans are
expected to vacation in Costa Rica, that is,
25,000 more than in 2008. Many of these
travelers will arrive directly at Daniel
Oduber, where a new parking platform has
been completed. Such works gave the Liberia
terminal room to accommodate 11 large
airplanes (four more than its previous
capacity). The project also included
extensive improvements to the runway. |
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