By: LARRY HALSTEAD, Tampa Bay Business Journal
Tampa International Airport is taking a proactive role in promoting the JetBlue Airlines non-stop flight from Tampa to Cancun, Mexico.
It partnered with JetBlue, the Cancun Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Mexico Tourism Board to host about 85 travel agents for a dinner and an infomercial Thursday. The promotion of Cancun as a vacation destination was an effort to build awareness of the JetBlue route that began Dec. 18.
“We finally have a direct route, and we want to make it last,” said Teresa Villarreal, the Mexico Tourism Board’s director in Miami.
The Cancun route is expected to deliver 80 percent loads during the winter and spring months, said Linda Meech, general manager of JetBlue’s Tampa operations. The airline flies 100-seat aircraft on the route.
Currently the route is running with 60 percent loads, according to Trudi Carson, director of air service development and international commerce at TIA.
TIA and the Tourism Board are partnering in a billboard campaign in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Sarasota counties to promote the Cancun route, Carson said. The cost of the campaign isn’t set yet, but Carson expects it to be less than $10,000.
It’s unusual for an airport to get involved in marketing a particular airline or route, but in this case, airport and tourism officials want the Cancun route to be successful and be a stepping stone for more international flights.
“We think that Cancun is the perfect place to start [with flights to Mexico from Tampa] and once people come, they will want to see more of Mexico,” Villarreal said.
There are proposals on the table from the Tourism Board to JetBlue and other airlines to add flights from Tampa to other Mexican destinations, but nothing is imminent, she said.
JetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU) also is investigating possible routes from Tampa to Costa Rica and Puerto Rico, Carson said.
TIA officials said Thursday they would love to add international flights to the airport’s daily menu, but airlines are hesitant to add flights into new markets with no guarantee of success. “Whenever an airline starts a new route, it’s a risk, “ said TIA director Louis Miller.
Cancun’s tourism industry put $2.5 billion into rebuilding the destination after Hurricane Wilma leveled the area in 2005 before turning its wrath on South Florida.
