The decision by three airlines to increase their flights to Cebu is expected to boost tourism in the island, said Tourism Secretary Joseph Durano during Friday’s opening of the Tourism and Lifestyle Expo in SM City Cebu.
Durano said China Southern, an airline company, will start its three-times-a-week Shanghai to Cebu flights in May. Durano told Sun.Star Cebu: “That first flight is going to be fully booked.”"
The tourism secretary said Shanghai is a very promising market for Cebu because not only is it the second biggest “outbound market” in China, tourists from the area are “one of the most cosmopolitan.”
“Most (tourists flying) Shanghai-Manila, most of them are business travelers. But the tourists we get from (the) Shanghai-Cebu (route), mostly are leisure travelers,” Durano told Sun.Star Cebu. This, he said, means they visit Cebu to shop, eat and go to the beaches.
Sun.Star Cebu reported that “although the volume of Chinese tourists only average about 200,000 annually, the growth rate is at 60 percent per year.”"
Durano also said that Philippine Airlines will be flying the Osaka-Cebu route within the year. Cathay Pacific, he said, will also increase its United Kingdom-Hong Kong-Cebu flights to four times a week by the end of March. This, he said, will bring more tourists not only from Hong Kong but also from Europe.
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it’s really a great idea since it’s one way of boosting Cebu’s economy, really glad to be a Cebuano…Gerly/Doha, Qatar