Mactan-Cebu airport plans to capture more markets

285719_292698764176457_1819297299_n

MACTAN-CEBU International Airport (MCIA) is rapidly increasing the number of flights into Cebu, and is currently in talks with Jetstar and Turkish Airlines to launch routes to Australia and Europe.

Four international services will start linking to Cebu this month: Philippine Airlines’ nonstop flights to Los Angeles; Emirates from Dubai via Clark; Eva Air from Taiwan; and Xiamen Airlines from Xiamen.

Qatar Airways will also return to Cebu within the year, said MCIA’s CEO Andrew Harrison.

He pointed out that with South Korea being Cebu tourism’s “key dependency”, there is a need for Cebu to diversify by targeting other markets, including Europe, Australia and mainland China.

“We want (to capture the European market) because they (tend to) stay longer – about 10 nights compared to four nights from Asians. Australians, in addition, have the propensity to travel to beach destinations,” said Harrison.

“Also, with the majority of tourists to the Maldives being mainland Chinese, we want them to know that (Cebu is a more affordable destination) that they do not have to travel as far to get to.”

Greater connectivity to MCIA would ease the congestion in Manila’s international airport and also serve the “latent demand” for travel to Visayas and Mindanao, he added.

But he reminded that there needs to be demand for the destination before airlines would fly there, which is why MCIA is partnering with the Philippine Department of Tourism and the travel trade to promote the destination by going on roadshows and trade shows.

Sponsored Post