In search of reinstating direct flight with the US, The Generalitat heads to New York

“The year 2023 should be the year to recover the long-haul markets.” The words were spoken this morning during the press conference to present the Creaturisme Action Plan for this year by the regional secretary of Tourism, Francesc Colomer. The message, significant, is focused on boosting arrivals from the Asian continent -the last one that has reopened after the pandemic- but also from North America and, especially, the United States. Therefore, next week (between March 27 and 30), Turisme CV will travel with a delegation of Valencian tourism businessmen to New York with the aim of “reinforcing” a destination like the Valencian one in the countrya promotional trip in which, as explained by Turisme, they will also work on the recovery of the direct air connection between autonomy and the US lost a little over a decade ago.

Specifically, the expedition -organized by the Valencian Community in collaboration with Turespaña and the Council of Chambers and framed in the Sorolla year- will be made up of business leaders from tourism subsectors such as accommodation, restaurants or experiential tourism. According to what they point out from Turisme, he is going to look for “close agreements with tour operators, promote ourselves in the specialized media, etc.” and, in between, also explore with various airlines “the possibility of getting the flight.” Of course, they rule out that they will “work one connection to the detriment of another”. That is It would not be prioritized that this be done from a specific airport, but rather the different options will be explored.

Complaint

The announcement, despite being new, is not a new claim. Even in an interview with this newspaper at the end of last year, Colomer himself already said that it would be a “priority” for this exercise. Not in vain, in recent years there have been several times that it has been speculated with the intention of resuming a non-stop flight with the United States territory that, uniting New York and Valencia, it was already in operation between 2009 and 2012, when it was operated by the American airline Delta Air Lines.

However, this connection was eventually suppressed -as the company explained at the time- due to low profitability. It will be necessary to see if the autonomy, which is currently sweet and with prospects for record arrivals for this year, manages to reposition itself as a sufficiently attractive destination for the US market to bet directly.