SILKAIR, the regional wing of Singapore Airlines, vowed to help the country, especially Mindanao, increase tourism arrivals for this year.
In its 20th anniversary celebration in Davao City, the airline will fan its airline operations in the city by offering excellent travel services and great deals.
SilkAir is one of the major sponsors of this year’s Davao Mega Travel Sale which opened yesterday and will run until February 19 at the Abreeza Ayala Mall, Davao City.
“We’ve been flying to (and from) Davao City for 20 years now, and we have been doing so well here in terms of passengers load especially now that Davao City’s profile has been raised following the election of President Rodrigo Duterte who is from here,” SilkAir Mindanao manager Sherwin Lim said in an interview with SunStar Davao.
The Department of Tourism’s target foreign tourist arrivals in 2017 is at two million.
The airline started operating here with only three times a week flights to Singapore, now, it reached 10 times weekly.
Though he said that increasing flights is not their focus this year, the company is keen on drumming up services here as tourism industry in Davao continues to boom.
“No commitment yet but we are hopeful that we can increase our number of flights to Singapore. We will see first if the situation further improves,” Lim said.
He added that evaluation of the general travel sentiments, the economy and the competition are some of the concerns they need to look at first before increasing flights.
Lim stressed that bright prospects await here as Davao’s profile have been raised over the year through hosting various international activities which generated interest and awareness among foreign tourists.
“Before, people only consider Manila, Cebu, Boracay (when coming in the Philippines) but now people are starting to discover Davao and hope this increase profile of Davao will continue,” he said.
During the launching of its 20th anniversary here, SilkAir’s new logo was unveiled.
SilkAir, flies to Cebu, Davao, and Kalibo from its hub in Singapore. SilkAir’s network operates 407 weekly flights to over 50 destinations in 13 countries.
In a previous report, the airline is keen on increasing its passenger traffic both ways.