TOURISM Secretary Wanda Corazon Teo said Thursday that a direct flight between Davao City and Japan is now being seriously negotiated.
Teo told VoxPop Davao in a chance interview at the sidelines of Davao Regional Tourism Assembly at the Waterfront Insular Hotel that they are working the direct flight route with Philippine Airlines.
"We hope that this route will be realized as soon as possible, we are still preparing and working for this direct flight to hopefully increase tourism arrivals especially from our Japanese tourists," she said.
However, Teo emphasized that nothing is official yet but the tourism department is positive for the outcome of this initiative.
According to Department of Tourism (DOT)-Davao data, Japan tourists serve as one of the top five foreign markets for the first quarter of this year at 12,918 visitors. It came second after USA, which had 19,858. The other top tourist arrivals are from Korea (6,915), China (8,063) and Australia (5,115).
The tourism arrivals from foreign visitors, burgeoned a 264 percent to 102,609 as compared with last year with just 28,158.
The increasing tourism arrivals from foreign tourists have resulted to proposals of direct international flights to Davao.
At present, the City Government of Davao is also starting its P10 tourism development master plan for the rehabilitation and development of the "Little Tokyo" in Mintal.
Generose Tecson, Davao City Tourism officer, said in a recent interview that the realization of the Davao's "Little Tokyo" will lure more Japanese to come and stay here in the city.
Apart from Japan, DOT-Mindanao is geared toward launching more international direct flights to the city, especially within the Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-Eaga).
Eden David, DOT-Mindanao officer in charge, said this is part of the agency's thrust of improving air connectivity and increasing foreign tourist arrivals.
"We are in talks with the airlines. This is to be able DOT to come up with the business cases to be presented to the airlines particularly those flying with the Bimp-Eaga route," she said.
David cited that they are eyeing Manado-Sandakan-Zamboanga; Kota Kinabalu-Puerto Princesa, Palawan-Cebu; and Jakarta-Manado-Davao routes.
Apart from the Bimp-Eaga, DOT is also pushing for other routes including Davao - Xiamen, China direct flight.
Last September 28, Xiamen Air had its "testing flight' between Xiamen, China and Davao City.
In an earlier report, DOT Davao Director Roberto Alabado III said that some 20 international airlines are considering Davao as their next area for expansion.
"They look at Davao now, they were impressed with our capacity for expansion. International airlines now know that Davao City has the capacity to house their airlines once they will decide to expand here," he earlier said.
This, according to him, was just some of the results the city has gained after hosting the Airline Operators Council (AOC) two-day outboard meeting last April 29 and 30.
According to DOT-Davao data, there were some 20 international airlines that participated and came over to the city during the meeting.
Some of the airlines are Air China, Turkish Airlines, Skylogistics, Federal Express, LuftansaTechnik, MacroAsia Airport, Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific, Jinair, Airbusan, Korean Air, Jeju Air, EVA Air, Miascor Ground Handling, and Dnata, among others.
"Most of these airlines are not operating here or may be operating in the Philippines but has not yet established its connectivity in Davao City," he said.
