OFFICIALS of budget airline Cebu Pacific (CEB) maintain a “cautious optimism” outlook of the country’s travel and tourism industry and that of the return of Chinese tourists.
They expect a surge in travel demand this year but they don’t see the numbers returning to the pre-pandemic levels just yet.
“I think it will take a while,” said Alexander Lao, president and chief commercial officer of CEB. “We’re quite bullish in the sense that tourism is quite an important segment of the Philippine economy, and we think that that’s going to come back. Are we going to come back to pre-Covid levels this year? Probably not. It might take us a couple of years.”
Lao said the same is true for the full return of Chinese tourists to the Philippines, which he said would also take a while too.
“One of the things we were discussing internally was, when China does reopen, can you come back quickly to 100 percent? To be honest, practically speaking, that would be quite difficult because in terms of ground handling resources, are they ready? In terms of local governments in China themselves, are they ready? In terms of our own visa issuances, are they ready?” Lao said.
“I think it will take a while for the airlines to come back, but having said that, we’re quite bullish on the tourism prospects this year,” he added.
China and South Korea were the country’s top two tourist source markets pre-pandemic, with the former contributing 1.7 million.
On Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, some 190 visitors from Xiamen arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 via Xiamen Airlines flight MF819.
According to the Department of Tourism (DOT) the early batch of Chinese visitors made the Philippines the latest country to welcome their return for inbound travel after China lifted restrictions to outbound travels of its nationals.
Such a move, the DOT said is seen “to positively impact economies as China remains one of the world’s top sources of foreign tourists with high visitor spending.”
The country is among the 20 nations identified by China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism to be part of its pilot areas for outbound tourism group tours, including its neighboring Association of Southeast Asian Nations Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, as well as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Russia, Switzerland, Hungary, New Zealand, Argentina, Cuba and Fiji.
CEB said it will fully restore its flights to all its 25 international destinations in 14 countries by March 2023.
The recovery will be aided by its unbeatable seat sales, widest domestic network, and reinstatement of all its international destinations on top of the easing of travel requirements in most countries.