2023-08-23 20:37:00
Lima will again have a direct flight to London. On August 16, Latam Airlines Peru announced that from December 1 it will start the direct route with the British city, having five weekly frequencies and with a capacity of 300 passengers on a Boeing 789 aircraft.
This decision will generate a positive impact on the country and tourism, with the arrival of people from different countries in the region, said the experts consulted by this newspaper.
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Precisely, Carlos Loayza, general manager of the National Chamber of Tourism of Peru (Canatur), explained that this direct flight will lead Lima to become a connection between other Latin American destinations with London, generating a large influx of travelers in the Peruvian city. .
“With the neighboring countries that do not have that direct frequency, the opportunity is generated for them to make a trip, say, La Paz-Lima, Montevideo-Lima, Santiago-Lima, Buenos Aires-Lima, and they can do tourism here for a few days. They are also working on the way that these tickets allow them to also spend a few days in the capital and later continue their trip and vice versa, so that when they return they also have this opportunity, ”he commented.
In addition, Loayza calculated that the influx that this direct route will generate will be 1,500 passengers per week, which would mean more than 60,000 passengers per year. He specified that this projected growth may increase as the five weekly flights may increase.
Direct connection in 2017
Before there was already a direct connection between Lima and London, operated since May by the British airline British Airways. However, by March 2017, it announced the suspension of these flights between October of that year and March 2018.
For his part, Juan Stoessel, CEO of Casa Andina, pointed out that the United Kingdom is a “great client” of South America and Peru, since this direct flight boosts the market for flights to Peru. He added that with this direct flight, London becomes a new connection channel between different cities in Europe, especially the north, and Lima.
“There is much less capacity to transport passengers from Europe to South America. So this [el anuncio] It is good, because it provides a greater number of seats and frees up some seats from other airlines that fly directly from Paris, Amsterdam and Madrid”, he explained, adding that this direct route also opens up new competition in the market, with which have better airfares in the medium term.
And it is that, as he commented, while the country has greater international connectivity, it will also have a greater number of potential tourist passengers in Peru.
Besides…
Arrival and departure of passengers
In 2019, the arrival of tourists from the United Kingdom to Peru was 71,322 people, while in 2022 they were 35,446 people, according to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur).
In addition, between January and July 2023, the figure reaches 19,453 people from the United Kingdom.
And in 2019, there were 3,175 Peruvian tourists who traveled to the United Kingdom and in 2022, only 112
Turismo
With the direct flight it will be possible to develop the tourist market between Peru and the United Kingdom, considered Loayza, taking advantage of not only the destinations of historical and cultural heritage; bird watching or ‘brid watching’ will also take place.
“The United Kingdom also has a great predilection for enjoying what bird tourism is, which is enjoying tourism in the natural environment of bird species. Peru has the great advantage of being one of the first countries in the world that has the highest concentration and opportunity for bird watching in their natural habitat,” he said.
Other tourism that benefits from this direct route is gastronomy, he said. In this sense, Ricardo Acosta, president of the Peruvian Association of Travel Agencies (Apavit), considered that more tourist promotions can be carried out to attract more English citizens with attractions such as the Central restaurant, chosen as the best in the world by The World’s 50 Best of 2023.
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The other tourist place that can attract British tourists, he recalled, is Machu Picchu.
“We have the opportunity to continue developing and taking advantage of specific segments of specialized tourism. This opportunity is given to us by having these flights,” Acosta said.
Another segment that will be attracted is corporate or business passengers, Stoessel said. “The United Kingdom has a lot of investment in Peru, so we are also going to have a percentage of business people who are going to use that route. Automatically, it benefits the hotels,” she said.
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In this sense, the general manager of Canatur added that this decision by Latam can also reactivate commercial activities between the United Kingdom and Peru.
“As a result of the pandemic, this has been decreasing a bit, but since the 2010s, not to go any further back, it was a time of very good commercial relations with the United Kingdom at an industrial, service, and general level of work and financial It can easily be reactivated, ”he said.
Precisely, as Stoessel mentioned, direct flights between Lima and London will have a time of 12 hours, while trips with a layover can increase this amount of time by an additional 4 or 5 hours. For this reason, people, both traveling for work and vacations, look for a direct flight, she added.
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