The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority will receive $50,000 in matching funds in 2016 to market new international air service between Lima, Peru, and Washington Dulles International Airport, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe announced on Monday. The grant is part of a Marketing Leverage Program fund administered by the Virginia Tourism Corporation to help increase visitation and revenue for Virginia’s localities through tourism.

LAN Peru will begin nonstop service three times per week between Lima and Washington on May 2, 2016, using Boeing 767 widebody aircraft. Flights will increase to four times weekly in July. Dulles serves nearly 50 international cities with nonstop service, including two other cities in South America. Activity generated by the new Dulles-Lima flight will add an estimated 332 jobs and $43 million in annual passenger and airline expenditures to the National Capital region. The new flights will be promoted to potential Peruvian passengers through print, radio, outdoor and online marketing campaigns.

“We thank the Virginia Tourism Corporation and our sponsoring partners in Arlington and Loudoun Counties,” said Mark Treadaway, Airports Authority vice president for business outreach. “The Airports Authority will work closely with Visit Loudoun and Stay Arlington to spread the awareness of these new flights and the unique experiences that await visitors to the region.”

The VTC Marketing Leverage Program is designed to stimulate new tourism marketing through partnerships by leveraging limited marketing dollars, resulting in increased visitor spending.  A minimum of three entities must partner financially to apply and may consist of Virginia towns, cities, counties, convention and visitors bureaus, chambers of commerce, other local or regional destination marketing organizations, private businesses, museums, attractions, cultural events, and other not-for-profit entities. 

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority operates Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, the Dulles Airport Access Highway and the Dulles Toll Road and also manages construction of the Silver Line project, a 23-mile extension of the Washington region’s Metrorail public transit system through Fairfax County and into Loudoun County, Virginia. More than 44 million passengers a year pass through the two airports. The Airports Authority generates more than 387,000 jobs in the National Capital Region.

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