Thursday, July 31, 2008 Councilor: City gets more flight 'entitlements'
THE recent air agreements signed by the Philippine government have finally included Davao as a new gateway.
"Short of our desired 'open skies' policy for Davao, these new air agreements gave flight entitlements for the city from Thailand, Netherlands and Hong Kong," Councilor Peter Laviña said Wednesday.
The councilor, who has been campaigning for an "open skies" policy for Davao for the past five years, said the Civil Aviation Board has acceded and granted Davao more air-links with foreign destinations.
"The timing is bad given the dim prospects of the travel industry due to rising cost of fuel. However, I believe local tourism industry players should strike the iron while it is hot," Laviña said.
He said one area of the particular interests is Bangkok as this is one of Asia's main regional hubs.
"I have been proposing for air links between Davao and the Thai capital since 2003. Bangkok receives more than one million tourists a month. If we can lure even just one percent of that throng, Davao could easily double its foreign tourist arrivals annually. And that is not counting Thai tourists yet just to show how huge this market is," Laviña said.
The councilor said having direct links with Bangkok would give Davao a foothold in the booming Mekong Delta region.
"I am confident we can develop a good market for the Davao-Bangkok sector not only for tourism but for trade and the overseas Filipino market as well," he said.
Davao has existing air agreements with Indonesia (Manado), Malaysia (Kota Kinabalu), Palau, South Korea and Singapore. (GLP)
