The Philippines plans to hold air talks with India, Indonesia and Japan this year to expand traffic rights, the Civil Aeronautics Board said Tuesday.
CAB executive director Carmelo Arcilla said the Philippine air panel would confirm the specific dates for the separate air talks with the three countries.
The Philippine negotiating panel is composed of officials from the CAB, Departments of Transportation and Communications, Tourism and Foreign Affairs, as well as from Clark International Airport Corp. and representatives of local airline companies.
Arcilla said these markets were important to the country’s tourism industry.
The Philippines completed air talks with South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Australia, Qatar and Turkey last year.
The government’s air talks are aligned with the priorities of the Department of Tourism to meet the government’s tourist arrivals target of 10 million by 2016.
The Philippines recorded total inbound foreign visitors of 4.39 million in the January-to-October period, up 11.3 percent from 3.96 million year-on-year.
The top markets for the Philippines are South Korea with 1.1 million visitors; United States of America with 636,658; Japan, 417,147; China, 415,868; Australia, 188,971; Singapore, 150,405; Malaysia, 129,120; United Kingdom, 123,414 and Canada, 120,903.
Other high growth markets include Spain with 19,208; New Zealand, 15,724; France, 37,135; Saudi Arabia, 44,339; Netherlands, 22,620; Hong Kong, 104,075.
The Tourism Department said the Philippines would likely meet its 5.2 million foreign tourist arrivals target in 2015 year after the number of visitors grew by double digits in the first 10 months.
Tourism Undersecretary Benito Bengzon Jr. said the government was aiming for six million foreign tourists in 2016, lower than the original target of 10 million visitors.
Revenues generated from tourism activities from January to October rose 8.24 percent to P186.89 billion from P172.66 billion last year.