PAL direct flights to Beijing starts Nov. 11

Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) will start its direct flights to Beijing, China on Nov. 11 as part of plans to boost revenues and take advantage of the growing domestic and international tourism in China.

PAL president Jaime Bautista said the flag carrier will start flying three times a week to the Chinese capital. In China, PAL already flies to Xiamen and Shanghai.

The growth in China has been fueled by the Department of Tourism (DoT) supported by PAL and Monitor Group, a leading global management consulting firm.

As one of the largest and fastest growing outbound tourism market globally, China is expected to produce an estimated 100 million travelers per year by 2010.

Despite the importance of the market, the Philippines only captured approximately 0.2 percent of total Chinese travelers in 2003.

Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano said the DoT designed and implemented major campaigns, namely, building an effective China organization, reinforcing the Philippines ‘brand’ driving trade participation, customizing products to meet Chinese tourists’ needs, pushing for priority policy support and driving DoT and private sector collaboration through the establishment of the China Tourism Action Group.

As an active participant in the group, PAL is now aggressively supporting the campaigns and will have its direct route from Manila to Beijing and vice-versa.

These campaigns have generated impressive results. The first half of 2005 saw 45,789 Chinese arrivals in the Philippines, already exceeding the 2004 total. May and June experienced unprecedented increases of 211.2 percent and 205.8 percent, respectively as compared to corresponding periods last year.

Thus, by the end of this year, China could become the fourth largest source country of tourism to the Philippines, joining the United States, Korea and Japan.

"The new China strategy has helped us focus our resources invested in China, allowing us to reap the market opportunities," Durano said.

On the other hand, Bautista said, "We are pleased to be engaged in this important China marketing initiative together with the DoT. Our efforts have clearly differentiated the Philippines’ positioning in the China market, and have led to visible results. This will further the tourism industry for the Philippines.