GO...UP & AWAY - JAXFAX Travel Marketing Magazine

ECUADOR NTO
SOUTH & CENTRAL AMERICA
New Air Access to the Galapagos Boosts Tourism Choices
By Mercedes M. Cardona
More access and activities
are adding to the
tourism offering in the
Galapagos Islands this
year. New flights from
the U.S. to Ecuador, new
scuba licenses and tour programs
integrating home stays
and camping are expanding
the choices for visitors, say
travel industry suppliers.
Ecuadorian airline AeroGal recently began service to New
York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, offering daily non-stops to
Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city and main port, which serves as
the international gateway to the Galapagos.
The New York flights depart JFK’s Terminal 4 just before midnight
daily and arrive in Guayaquil at 6:20 a.m., which gives travelers
plenty of time to make connections onward to the
Galapagos –where Aerogal flies to the islands of San Cristobal
and Baltra–or other points in Ecuador. New York flights leave
Guayaquil at 2:30 p.m. daily and arrive at JFK at 8:40 p.m. The
flights are operated with Boeing 767 aircraft that seat 210 passengers;
25 in business class and 185 in coach. This is the second
U.S. gateway for the airline, which connects cities in
ARGENTINA
Buenos Aires, Iguazu Falls,
Patagonia
BRAZIL
Rio de Janeiro, Salvador-Bahia.
Amazon
ECUADOR
Quito, Galapagos Islands, Otavalo
PERU
Cuzco, Machu Picchu, Manu Reserve
CHILE
Santiago, Torres del Paine, Atacama
BOLIVIA
La Paz, Lake Titicaca, Santa Cruz
Ecuador and also serves Bogota, Colombia and Miami as part of
an international expansion that began in 2005. Officials said
AeroGal is also looking to begin flights to Madrid in the near future
to tap the European market; and it is awaiting delivery of an
Airbus A330 aircraft that will be capable of making the journey.
AeroGal was able to open the New York flight Dec. 7 by taking
over some existing routes that were approved under the U.S-
Ecuador bilateral agreement, but which had been left dormant by
other carriers. LAN Ecuador is the only other airline offering U.S.
non-stops to Guayaquil, operating daily service from New York and
Miami. LAN, which until 2009 had only offered international service
to Ecuador, is also eyeing the Galapagos. It started domestic
service within Ecuador in April, connecting Quito and Guayaquil
and has applied to connect both
cities with San Cristobal or Baltra,
but that service is still pending.
At the moment, AeroGal has no
plans to open other U.S. gateways,
said CEO Gabriela Sommerfield.
Because of the bilateral agreement,
AeroGal is limited to operating no
more than seven weekly flights
from New York and another seven
from Miami, she said. But Sommerfield
added that if the airline
needs additional seats on the route, it could trade up from its 767
aircraft to a larger Airbus model. Aerogal recently sold a stake in the
company to Colombia’s Avianca, so it has access to Avianca’s fleet
of aircraft, which includes A320 and A330 wide-body planes.
AeroGal marked the opening of its New York gateway with a trade
show where tour operators including Metropolitan Touring,
Surtrek Tour Operator and Gray Line Ecuador presented their
Galapagos offerings. All the tour operators present agreed the U.S.
market has softened somewhat during the recession, but the lure
of the Galapagos remains strong among adventurous travelers.
The number of travelers to the Galapagos is holding steady, but
the booking window is getting shorter, said Alfonso Tandazo, of
Surtrek. Rather than book 10 months to a year in advance, FIT bookings
are coming in about 45 days before travel, so there are better
last-minute deals, he said.
Paulo Irigoyen, sales and promotions manager for Gray Line
Ecuador, said his company’s booking window is holding at three to
six months, but special offers are driving more traffic.
For those travelers who make the commitment, new options
are available. While cruises to admire island’s animal diversity remain
popular with international travelers, options for camping and
other active pursuits have expanded.
Tandazo said the government recently opened up 10 licenses for
scuba operators in the Galapagos, in addition to the live-aboard ships
that ply the islands. Local boat operators will start receiving the licenses
during 2010. Despite the sharp growth in dive boats, it doesn’t
mean the waters will be crowded with divers, Tandazo said. Each
license means an extra dive boat carrying up to 16 divers, so there
will be at most some 200 divers per day. While the Ecuatorial waters
are not too cold and the depths are manageable–anywhere
from 75 to 90 feet, most operators recommend divers be of intermediate
or advanced experience levels, having completed about
64 SOUTH & CENTRAL AMERICA WWW.JAXFAX.COM FEBRUARY 2010
ECUADOR NTO