Cancun, Q.R. — The Sao Paulo-Cancun route of LATAM Airlines, which operated between December 2014 and January 2017, will be reactivated on June 4 with two weekly flights.
Although Cancun hoteliers are improving due to the reactivation of positive April results with the arrival of tourists, the resumption of LATAM Airlines Brasil flights are expected to help even more. The start of the Sao Paulo to Cancun flights in June will reactivate tourism in the Mexican Caribbean in a further sign of the improvements in projections for the remainder of the year.
“This is great news for the hotel sector in Quintana Roo in general and more specifically Cancun,” said Javier Monje, sales manager for the RIU hotel company in the Mexican Caribbean.
“The Brazilian market has always been very important for Cancun, and although we were counting on some Brazilian clients that were making a stopover in Mexico City, there is no doubt that this direct connection will allow increasing the presence of Brazilian tourists,” added the executive.
LATAM Airlines Brasil will operate the Sao Paulo-Cancun route from June 4 with two weekly frequencies on Mondays and Fridays, and back on Tuesdays and Saturdays with a Boeing 767 aircraft with capacity for 221 passengers.
This route operated between December 2014 and January 2017, and will return to improve the connection between Brazil and the Mexican Caribbean, which is one of the favorite destinations for tourists from Rio de Janeiro.
“Mexico is a destination open to Brazilians, even at this time of great international restrictions, and there is a strong demand for beaches in the Caribbean. This is a strategic decision, given that we will be the only Brazilian airline to operate the route” said Diogo Elias, director of sales and marketing for LATAM Airlines Brasil.
“With 11 of our 12 hotels in Quintana Roo open, all of them in good occupancy numbers, we hope that the announcement of LATAM Airlines Brasil will allow us to complete our portfolio of hotels open in the destination as soon as possible,” said Monje.
The RIU executive added that this will make it easier to continue improving hotel occupations and, above all, to reinstate the remaining employees as soon as possible.
The reactivation of tourism in Latin America is one of the priorities of the governments of the region to promote a key economic sector to alleviate the crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last week, Tourism Secretaries from 18 Latin American countries signed in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, a declaration that establishes the key guidelines and the commitment of the region’s leaders to relaunch the sector, promoting more sustainable and inclusive tourism.
The officials pledged to “reaffirm the responsibility and commitment of all governments and international organizations to provide support to tourism in order to ensure its rapid, effective, safe and sustainable recovery.”