The incentive was unveiled on Tuesday at an event held at the Pátio da Galé, in Lisbon, attended by TAP CEO Fernando Pinto, Lisbon Mayor Fernando Medina and Economy Minister Manuela Caldeira Cabral.
The offer is available mainly to Americans and Brazilians with connecting flights in Portugal, who would like to spend a few days in this country as opposed to a few hours in transit at Lisbon or Porto airport.
Deals have already been secured with a number of partners to ensure discounted prices can be offered to those passengers.
TAP CEO Fernando Pinto said: “In total we have gathered, in record time, 150 partners just to launch the programme. This is unheard of.
“Lisbon airport, and also Porto airport, to a lesser extent, has a high number of long-haul passengers, mainly from the US and Brazil, whose final destination is not Portugal, so Stopover aims to entice those passengers to stay between one and three nights in Lisbon and Porto and they also have access to offers from 150 partners”, he explained.
Among those partnerships are Tuk Tuk rides and dolphin-watching trips on the Sado Estuary.
Despite the focus of this programme being passengers originating in the US and Brazil, the main target is Americans due to the falling number of passengers travelling from Brazil due to the crisis.
According to the head of TAP, one of the objectives is to make the most of the reinforcement the airline has recently made of its flights to the US, following new routes launched this year to Boston and JFK airport in New York, as well as a new codeshare deal with Jetblue to 31 US destinations.
The airline currently operates 30 flights a week between Portugal and the US.
Speaking to economic online journal Dinheiro Vivo, David Neelman, co-owner of TAP following its privatisation, said: “People need an incentive to fly with us, and now we are giving it to them. There is no other company in Europe, with the exception of Icelandic Air, that offers a Stopover programme. Air France doesn’t have one, Lufthansa doesn’t have one.”
He added that while high season is not a main concern, as flights are full, low season is.
“I’m not worried about high season, I’m concerned with low season. That’s when we need incentives. Because as soon as people get to know Portugal they’ll want to come back”; he stressed.
Fernando Pinto added: “This is the moment to conquer the market. This year alone 27 million Americans will arrive in Europe and a large slice of them will come to Portugal.”
He said supporting tourism is also another main objective, and that the programme is not just advantageous for TAP but also for the country.
“This programme will facilitate and stimulate the staying of passengers in the country and will promote growth among our customs and traditions. Tourism is the main engine of our growth and our economy; it is TAP’s main focus and it is one of the reasons for the Stopover programme”, the CEO stressed.
Through the programme, the airline aims to bring over one million clients from the US to Portugal over the next three years, equating to a potential financial impact of around €150 million, and half a million new visitors to Lisbon and Porto.
In 2017, it hopes Stopover will lure an extra 150,000 visitors to the country.
Addressing the programme, Economy Minister Caldeira Cabral said it is a “very interesting example of how we want to work. “It is a way of innovating, of doing something different to boost tourism”, and reflected: “The US and Brazil are among the world’s biggest source markets and Americans have a higher-than-average spending power.”
Research by TAP shows that a US tourist spends on average €2,500 during a trip to Portugal.