Is it possible to reopen the Davao City - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia direct flight?
Yes.
That's what officials from Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board (MTPB) or Tourism Malaysia shared to reporters during their Sales Mission event in Davao city on May 24, 2023.
"We are in talks with the Philippine tourism stakeholders. We hope to reopen the direct flight between Davao City and Kuala Lumpur," Tourism Malaysia Director General Dato' Dr. Ammar Bin Abd. Ghapar said.
But he emphasized that there are still a lot of factors to be considered and requirements to be met before this plan will be materialized.
For now, they are also in talks with Singapore Airlines to increase the flight frequency from Davao to Singapore. They are also looking at Singapore as a viable gateway for Filipino tourists because of its easy access and borders to Malaysia.
What happened to DVO-KL
In December 2017, Air Asia launched its Davao – Kuala Lumpur direct service to boost tourism and trade activities in both countries. The direct flight was also one of the fruits gained from the Phnom Penh, Cambodia visit of former President Rodrigo Duterte in December 2016.
But due to "commercial reasons", Air Asia announced the suspension of the link six months after. The four times weekly direct flight was last served on August 21, 2018.
In 2018, the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Incorporated (DCCCII) and the Davao City Tourism and Operations Office said the route was suspended because it failed to maintain an average of 80 percent load factor per flight.
It was underscored that the lack of Halal-certified establishments in Davao City as one of the reasons why the direct flight was stopped.
Improve Halal industry
Ghapar of Tourism Malaysia emphasized that there is a need for Davao City to meet the Halal demands of the Malaysian tourists to sustain a direct route.
He noted that Malaysians are very strict with their Halal requirements.
"Most Malaysian tourists are Muslims and from what we know, it is very difficult to get food Halal foods here in Davao City," he shared.
At present, Davao City does not have enough Halal-friendly restaurants and tourism establishments. But there has been a big improvement since 2018.
From only one Halal-certified establishment in the city in 2018, Davao City now has some 10 establishments that are currently Halal-certified. Halal certifications in Davao City expire after five years.
"This is one of the things that we are discussing and we want to address. We believe that working closely with the Davao Tourism office is very important. It is not impossible to encourage more Malaysians to visit Davao City and the Philippines as a whole," Malaysian Ambassador to the Philippines Abdul Malik Melvin Castelino said.
To discuss the Halal compliance issues, the 8th Philippine Halal Trade and Tourism Expo (PHTTE) was organized at the SMX Convention Center in Davao City last May 25.
Some of the points raised during the expo are intensifying halal promotion campaign and adding more halal certifiers in the country, among others.
Marilou Ampuan, PHTTE president and 2023 Halal Expo organizer, said that the country currently has 11 halal certifiers nationwide, which she deemed "quite enough" for now.
"Especially sa atong industry na nagkadaghan napud ang atoang mga halal players in promoting food, products and tourism services," Ampuan said.
Davao as a tourism market
Ghapar said they picked Davao along with Manila as one of their sales mission destinations because of its huge potential in tourism for Malaysia.
"One of the reasons why we chose Davao is we see a lot of potential, especially that Muslim population here is quite big," he said.
He also shared that the Philippines was one of Malaysia's top market pre-pandemic with over 421,000 tourists from the Philippines. The numbers went down, as expected, to over 159,442 in 2022. Of the total figure, 15% can be attributed to Davao City
The sales mission was participated by the Malaysian delegation comprising 19 organizations, including Melaka Tourism, Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC), Selama District Council of Perak, Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) agency, as well as other industry players and product owners.
Highlighted also through the event are the upcoming "Visit Melaka" and the "Visit Perak Year 2024" whereby the following Malaysian states were given the stage to feature the unique culture and experience tourists may also expect that their states has to offer; this is also to pave way and create the momentum for the upcoming Visit Malaysia Year 2025 wherein Malaysia is projecting to have 23.5m international tourists and RM76.8b in receipts.
"The Philippines has always been the top 10 source market for international travel to Malaysia. Our challenge is to move forward after the pandemic and to work together to create a seamless and unforgettable experience for tourists when they visit ASEAN as a single yet multifarious travel destination," Ghapar said. ASP