Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco served as keynote speaker at the opening day of the first-ever 2023 Aviation Summit organized by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) and the Asian Business Aviation Association (AsBAA) in partnership with the Department of Transportation (DOTr).
Addressing various industry stakeholders, Frasco prefaced her message by noting the importance of the aviation industry to the Philippine tourism landscape and economy.
“We view aviation and connectivity as an essential component of Philippine tourism, especially that the Philippines has the unique challenge of being only accessible via air, unless you take a cruise to the Philippines. And more often than not, when the country is compared with our fellow ASEAN neighbors,who are also our direct competitors, what is not often said is that the major challenge for the Philippines is connectivity. Therefore, it is the best interest of Philippine tourism to express its full support for the aviation industry, as well as to extend its hand of collaboration to your industry as it can only serve to better Philippine tourism,” the tourism chief said.
“In 2022, 900 million tourists traveled internationally, reflective of the phenomenon of revenge travel as it is double the number from 2021.”
The tourism head shared that in 2022, 900 million tourists traveled internationally, reflective of the phenomenon of revenge travel as it is double the number from 2021.
She added that in the Philippines, a 99 percent increase in incoming international flights was observed, which is almost double in August in 2023, registering over 1,400 flights versus the 704 incoming flights per week in June 2022.
“This a promising development for us in tourism, especially that the major challenge in the recovery for the country was the halting of pre-pandemic flights, and the aspiration is to add to more flights coming to our main gateway here in Manila, and especially to our secondary gateways across the country,” Frasco said.
“In comparison with our neighbors in ASEAN, the Philippines ranks second in terms of recovery rate for domestic and international seats with 90 percent, same with Singapore.”
“In comparison with our neighbors in ASEAN, the Philippines ranks second in terms of recovery rate for domestic and international seats with 90 percent, same with Singapore. Being an archipelagic country it gives us the unique challenge in terms of connectivity, and this is where we perceive aviation to have a vital role in the development of our industry,” she added.
Happening from 27-28 September 2023 at the Marriott Hotel Manila, the 2023 Aviation Summit seeks to provide a platform to share general updates and best practices on aviation and discuss industry-wide concerns, and by inviting industry experts and thought leaders on the ground, identify actionable solutions for the nation’s aviation industry against the backdrop of a global pandemic.
At the event are ECCP President Mr. Paulo Duarte, AsBAA Chairwoman Ms. Jenny Lau, ECCP Executive Director Florian Gottein, AsBAA Vice Chairperson and Philippine Chapter Founder Max Motschmann, and Philippine National Red Cross (PRC) Secretary General Dr. Gwen Pang.
Committee on Public Services Chairperson Senator Grace Poe also graced the Summit and provided legislative updates and key priorities for the air transport sector in the 19th Congress during the morning part of the program.
Former Tourism Secretary and PRC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dick Gordon served as panelist during the morning discussion and open forum on the topic of Growth of Aviation industry, alongside executives from the Airline Operations Council – Manila, Cebu Pacific, International Air Transport Association (IATA), International Business Aviation Council (IBAC), and Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA).
