The Regional Secretary for Tourism and Transport called for the need to coordinate business tourist activities with institutional activities in order to prepare "a tourism offer that suits all those who visit" the Azores.

Speaking to journalists at the end of a meeting the representatives of Praia da Vitória and Angra do Heroísmo City Halls, Chamber of Commerce of Angra do Heroísmo and tour operator Yazores, Vítor Fraga stressed the need to understand that "not all visitors search for the same type of activities."

"The tourist activities for the Spanish market are necessarily the same for the US market. Therefore, it is necessary to work towards the differentiation of our tourism offer so that it may be suitable for all those who visit us," said the government official.

The meeting held today is part of a series of meetings for the preparation of new tourism operations to be carried out this winter for Terceira in order to prepare the tourist activity programme for all those who will visit this island.

"This measure had already been included in the Economic Revitalisation Plan for Terceira Island (PREIT)," Vítor Fraga reminded, stressing that the support of the Government in the implementation of this plan aims "to maximise our tourism offer so that we may attract more tourists to the Region."

"These operations are important not only for our ability to attract more tourists this winter, but also for the opportunity to turn these tourists into potential promoters of the Azores destination in source markets, which is the case of the US and Spanish markets," said Vítor Fraga.

The Regional Secretary stressed that the US operation, which includes 22 flight connections, may represent 21,000 overnight stays while the operation for the Spanish market, a yearly operation, may correspond to a total of 60 thousand overnight stays. However, "we will only know for sure the exact number of tourists that come to the Region while the operation is running; only then we will know the number of tourists visiting Terceira and the actual number of overnight stays.

Vítor Fraga mentioned that "there are other operations that are already running as in previous years. There will be a new operation scheduled for the summer, with the addition of a flight connection from Dusseldorf to Terceira on a regular flight operated by Air Berlin. It has the potential to generate 28 thousand stays during this period."

"It is a new operation, with a very significant potential in one of our main markets," the government official said, adding that "seats are already being marketed."

"This is a regular flight operated by the aforementioned airline. Now, private entities must undertaken all effort to increase tourism flows in the Region and this is a new access to Terceira Island," Vítor Fraga said, stressing that it is "a great victory of the Azores tourism but, above all, of our entrepreneurs."