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Este informe no está disponible en español. CARIBBEAN BUSINESSFly Free Program To Be ExtendedBecause the incentive has helped increase travel bookings to the island, its Dec. 15 deadline will be set for a later dateBY EVELYN GUADALUPE-FAJARDODecember 13, 2001 Puerto Rico’s Fly Free incentive has helped local travel bookings rebound after the Sept. 11 attacks. And although the local government has no idea how many tourists have taken advantage of the deal, it has decided to lengthen its duration. The Fly Free incentive program offers two free airline tickets to tourists who book a five-night minimum stay on the island from Nov. 1 through Dec. 15. Because of the program’s success, its original deadline will be set for a later date that has yet to be established. "Although advanced travel bookings for January appear to be in line, we are negotiating with the major airlines serving San Juan to buy more tickets and extend the Fly Free program," said Milton Segarra, executive director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Co. In October, the local government identified $2 million that could be used to buy 10,000 airline tickets–at $200 each–from key U.S. gateways. The strategy of giving these tickets away is being used as an enticement for vacationers to travel to Puerto Rico. Tickets are being distributed in allotments to travel wholesalers who sell Puerto Rico according to their sales volume. The originally allotted $2 million has not used up in its totality, since fewer than the targeted 10,000 bookings were not achieved in the period of time originally given to the Fly Free promotion. The Tourism Co. expects to use the leftover to finance the Fly Free extension, depending on how much the major carriers will now charge the government for tickets. Segarra could not identify how much money is left over. Meanwhile, the funds were also used to provide the Puerto Rico Convention Bureau with 1,000 vouchers worth $100 each to be used to buy airline tickets aimed to lure group and convention business travel. Mark Steward, director of the Caribbean product for Travel Impressions in New York, told CARIBBEAN BUSINESS in an earlier interview that the Fly Free program (which rolled out on Oct. 30) was fantastic, but since it wasn’t implemented until Nov. 1, tour operators were at a disadvantage for marketing the program. "It wasn’t until after 10 days that the program started that we [wholesalers] were seeing the results in a short window," said Steward, during the wholesalers meeting on Nov. 30 at The Westin Rio Mar Beach Resort, Country Club & Ocean Villas. "We are hoping to see the program extended." This Caribbean Business article appears courtesy of Casiano Communications.
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