The Tourism Department said direct charter flights from Xiamen, China to Puerto Princesa City will bring more Chinese tourists into the country and boost Philippine tourism.
The agency said it made possible the creation of the XMN-PPS route which would be launched on Feb. 10 by C&D Travel Service China, a charter operator based in Xiamen, with Philippine Airlines as the partner carrier.
“We continue to welcome more Chinese tourists to the country as part of the improved diplomatic relationship between Manila and Beijing since President Rodrigo Duterte’s state visit to China last year,” said Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo.
Regular operations will start on Feb. 14 and 18. PAL will be flying an Airbus A320 with an estimated capacity of 160 dual class passenger seats.
“Just for starters, the new route will produce a total of 480 international air seats just for that period alone. This is on top of the other new routes that Chinese carriers have opened up direct to other tourist destinations in the Philippines last year,” said Tourism Undersecretary Benito Bengzon Jr.
The Tourism Department said it was also working on the Tiajin-Puerto Princesa route, in time for the Chinese New Year.
It said the development of new routes was in line with the National Tourism Development Plan’s strategy to improve air connectivity from major tourist source markets to the Philippines.
Xiamen Airlines earlier mounted direct air commercial services from Fuzhou, China to Kalibo, Aklan using Airbus A321 with 197 seat passenger capacity on a three times weekly frequency to meet the growing demand by Chinese visitors to go to the resort island of Boracay.
Xiamen Airlines with Uni-Orient Travel as its major partner launched the route on Jan. 12, 2018.
China, the second largest market of inbound tourism next to Korea, accounted for 968,447 tourist arrivals in 2017, or 43.3 percent higher than 675,663 in 2016.
Tourism Department route development team head Erwin Balane said the new Fuzhou-Aklan route would generate up to 591 international air seats bound for the Philippines per week or a total of 30,732 seats per year.