With HELEN J. CATALBAS | helencatalbas@gmail.com
This column is about conversations, suggestions, updates and what-have-you on the subject of tourism and other matters in the Western Visayas region, Philippines and world. It is intended to be a market place of ideas leading to positive actions and reactions that will, hopefully, build communities.
SOME 10 years, 4 months and 12-13 days ago today on November 8-9, 2012 flights from Hong Kong and Singapore landed at and took off from “Iloilo airport of international standard” (now Iloilo International Airport) – its opening to direct international flights. These breakthroughs did not come easy as similar dream-come-true achievements showed. It was a lot of hard work, sleepless nights, bout against negative elements and skeptics who like prophets of doom foretold the flight routes would fold up and call it quits sooner than later.
In any venture, as in life, no amount of negativity can survive in an atmosphere dominated by oozing positivity coupled with a lot of determination, established linkages, coordination work and perseverance. And so the Iloilo-Hong Kong vice versa and Iloilo-Singapore vice versa routes were born. We give credit to Cebu Pacific for investing in those routes and believing in the capacity of the Department of Tourism Region 6, other Western Visayas-based national government agencies concerned, local government units and private sector tourism stakeholders to sustain these pioneering efforts through.
The Iloilo-Hong Kong flights were twice weekly while the Iloilo-Singapore trips were thrice weekly. As 2019 closed and prior to Iloilo International Airport lockdown due to travel restrictions brought about by Covid-19 pandemic, flights frequency to/from this airport was thrice weekly for both routes.
The pre-pandemic flights frequency of Iloilo-Singapore route was every Monday, Wednesday and Friday while Singapore-Iloilo flights were every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Iloilo-Hong Kong flights were every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday while the Hong Kong-Iloilo flights were every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The routes grew stronger through the years from 2012 to 2019 if we look at the 2019 arrival data from the Bureau of Immigration Iloilo office as our basis for saying so. There were highs and lows in the monthly statistics report but this pattern is expected in any route for that matter due to one reason or another. Sometimes these reasons are neither here nor there.
The year 2019 had the following arrivals: 2,970 (January), 2,512 (February), 3,292 (March), 4,030 (April), 3,944 (May), 3,414 (June), 3,574 (July), 2,367 (August), 2,387 (September), 3,015 (October), 3,116 (November) and 4,095 (December). Year-round 2019 grand total arrivals were 38,716 with Philippines (OFWs/Balikbayans), Singapore, Mainland China, Hong Kong, USA, Canada, United Kingdom, South Korea, Germany, Australia, Malaysia, France and India as the top 12 countries of origin.
Belatedly, we thank Cebu Pacific for this trailblazing venture of opening the routes, Iloilo International Airport for providing appropriate environment, facilities and services, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), the BCQ agencies (Bureaus of Immigration, Customs and Quarantine) and Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) for their strong support, Western Visayas, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia and Thailand multimedia for their drumbeating contribution;
the supportive government officials from the city and province of Iloilo with their respective tourism officers, who in one way or another, gave their full backing to this breakthrough;
the Provincial Tourism Officers of Capiz, Negros Occidental, Guimaras, City Tourism Officers of Bacolod, Municipal Tourism Officer of Malay, Aklan and their respective local government officials and private tourism stakeholders with the Philippine Department of Tourism (PDOT) market representatives in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia/Thailand for the success of the 2014 and 2016 Western Visayas Tourism Business Mission, the Bacolod Masskara Foundation and Iloilo Dinagyang Foundation Inc (IDFI) for the participation of Bacolod Masskara and Iloilo Dinagyang, respectively, representing the Philippines in the Grand Hong Kong Chinese New Year Night Parade for two consecutive years;
the Tourism Promotions Board, the Secretaries/Undersecretaries of PDOT from 2012 to early 2018 and all those who in one way or the other contributed to the realization and sustainability for more than 7 years of those two international air routes.
The various benefits to be derived from the resumption of international flights to/from Iloilo cannot be overemphasized. They will benefit the Western Visayas provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo and Negros Occidental and the highly urbanized capital cities Bacolod (Negros Occidental) and Iloilo. Said flights will also be beneficial to neighboring regions in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
In any endeavor, like the international air routes, there could be only be one set of birth pains. As we mourn the air routes’ untimely demise since mid-March 2020, we content ourselves with the thought that one day soon there will be a glorious resurrection.
The Department of Tourism Region 6 was one of the torch bearers then. It should assume the same mandated role now. Let us work hard to get the international flights back to/from Iloilo.
It may be a roller coaster ride getting those flights again as it was the first time, but we assure you, the experience will be more than worth the try and the thrill.
***
We wish other destinations in the Western Visayas region will join us in these conversations in the near future after which we will do the same for others in the Philippines and the world.
Welcome aboard!!!
***
The author is retired employee of Phil Dept of Tourism in Western Visayas Region (PDOT-WV) where she was designated in various capacities in more than four decades of government service. She retired as Regional Director of PDOT-WV in 2021. During her tour of duty, she was instrumental in product and market development for the region. Among the milestones of her term of office were connecting the region’s airports and seaports with domestic and international tourism source markets, performing vital ground level functions during the rehabilitation of Boracay Island, evacuating thousands of stranded domestic and foreign tourists and cooperating with other government agencies in providing aid to displaced tourism workers and businesses in Western Visayas from the start of pandemic-induced lockdown up to her retirement from public service./PN
