THE Cebu Pacific Air will open the Davao-Singapore route on December 17.
Davao Region's Tourism Office director Roberto Alabado III said the Cebu Pacific is the only Philippine airline that offers the direct flight.
Alabado said Cebu Pacific initially offered at least twice a week between Davao and Singapore, with the average flight time of more than three hours.
In terms of the tourism, Alabado said the Singapore-Davao connectivity opens a new destination for tourists.
"Meron kami nakausap na Singaporeans dati who visited Davao, and when they saw Davao, they thought it as a fresh adventure area for them kasi they have most traveled Singapore and Malaysia," Alabado said.
"From what we see in Davao Region, it has several tourist spots, to include beaches, that we believe are attractive for foreigners, especially the Singaporean market," he added.
Aside from tourism, Alabado said having such connectivity also opens up the market of Singapore and even Malaysia towards Davao.
He said the tour operators and the tourism office are now preparing packages, including packages on Visit Davao Fun Sale so that this can be marketed through the Singaporeans.
"By next month or January next year, the Visit Davao Fun Sale plus the Samal Island will be visiting Singapore para sa ating marketing doon so they will consider Davao and Samal for their summer destination next year," Alabado said.
"It provides easier access to them rather than to travel via Manila or Cebu to Davao. But I am looking at the long term effect because Singapore is also an international hub," he added. Thus, this can connect Davao to Jakarta, Indonesia, and Kuala Lumpur.
Alabado said this can be an advantage especially for the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippine East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-Eaga), as it already allows an easier and convenient flight for Mindanao.
"So maybe, not next year but on the next years to come, what we can do is entice even the Europeans to come here via Singapore as it is connected to many major cities all over the world and that is going to be our advantage," he said.
Alabado said they hope that there will be a healthy competition between the Silk Air, which has Singapore to Cebu to Davao connecting flight, and Cebu Pacific with Singapore-Davao direct flight so there will be more tourists coming in.
"The Davao tourisms will be supporting both the Cebu Pacific and Silk Air in maintaining their operations so that more Filipinos can access Singapore and at the same time Singapore and Malaysians can access Davao," Alabado said.