IN a meeting with aviation executives and tourism players from Los Angeles, California, Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco conveyed the Department’s intention of initiating more flights and new routes into the Philippines.

“𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘰𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴 [flights] 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 Department of Transportation (𝘋𝘖𝘛𝘳), 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺,” enthused the tourism chief.

“𝘈𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺, 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘋𝘖𝘛 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘚 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘶𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴,” Secretary Frasco added.

The DOT chief also disclosed that North America has been the most consistent among the foreign visitor markets to the Philippines in terms of tourist arrivals even through the pandemic. She noted that the first international flights flown into the country upon the relaxation of border restrictions came from the US.

“𝘋𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭, 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢 𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴, 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵,” Secretary Frasco emphasized.

The meeting, led by Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco, was attended by airlines and aviation executives including Turkish Airlines Senior Marketing Representative Ms. Fatma Aybike Tebbe, Singapore Airlines Marketing and E-Commerce Manager for the Americas Regions Ms. Amy Sarto and Market Development and Partner Specialist for the Americas Mr. Ping Zhang; Delta Airlines JV Asia Sales Manager Mr. Sung Jeon, American Airlines Director of State and Local Government Affairs Mr. Eduardo Alfonso Angeles, Philippine Airlines Officer-in-Charge/Country Manager for USA Ms. Michelle Narvaez; Korean Air Regional Sales Manager, Regional Passenger Sales Office for Western US Mr. Alan Fan; Eva Airways Manager for Global Sales, Ms. Cathy Lee and Assistant Manager Mr. David Chen; China Airlines Area Sales Manager Mr. Calvin Shih and Regional Sales Manager Ms. Jenny Lee; Cathay Pacific Airways Account Manager Ms. Xiaolu Chun and Account Manager Ms. Sohwa Lee; and from the Qatar Airways, Senior Account Manager for Leisure Sales USA Ms. Meera Prashad, and Starlux Airlines Trade Account Manager Ms. Vicky Lin.

Also present are travel trade representatives namely Ms. Eliza Chung, Managing Director, Sales and Marketing & Operations, GTT Global; Mr. Carlos Gutierrez, Vice President, West Coast of Downtown Travel; Mr. David Rezaieh, Vice President, Airline Operations, Downtown Travel; Mr. Eren Aksoy, Chief Operating Officer of Picasso Travel; Atty. Ernie Ocampo representing the Philippine American Bar Association (PABA); Jhoanna De Los Reyes, Head of Philippine Team/ Manager, Los Angeles Office for Skybird International; Ms. Laudie Hanou, Vice President of Sita World Tours; Earl Francisco, Director of Sales of Mango Tours and Christine Consuji Director of Sales and Catering of Greatwolfe Lodge.

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