As ASEAN accelerates its tourism ambitions, aviation specialists are urging destinations to rethink how air connectivity is built, sustained and scaled.

Panellists at the forum titled Accessible and Seamless Travel, held during the ASEAN Tourism Forum in Cebu City, Philippines, stressed that seamless travel is no longer solely an airline issue, but a whole-of-government and destination-wide challenge.

The session was moderated by Issa Litton, president and head trainer of Philippines-based 1Lit Corp, and the conference was hosted by the Philippine Department of Tourism.

Michelle Eve A De Guzman, marketing director at Cebu Pacific, highlighted the growing role of secondary airports as travellers seek time and cost savings. However, she cautioned that accessibility goes beyond simply landing an aircraft.

“You don’t just land them in that country,” she said. “What about the travel from the airport to where they actually want to go? That’s part of travel accessibility too.”

From a policy perspective, Jane Stacey, head of the tourism unit at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), stressed that seamless travel must be viewed as a complete, end-to-end journey.

“It’s from the very first mile to the very last mile,” she said, outlining four priorities for delivering a seamless traveller experience.

The first is modernising visa and border processes, including simplifying visa requirements, speeding up approvals and reducing friction at immigration checkpoints. Stacey noted that destinations easing visa restrictions consistently see demand rise, making policy reform one of the fastest levers governments can use to stimulate travel.

The second priority is deploying interoperable digital traveller identity and biometric verification. By enabling travellers to move through airports using biometrics instead of repeated document checks, congestion can be significantly reduced. Stacey pointed to airports with multiple identity checkpoints as clear examples of inefficiency.

The third priority is strengthening multimodal connectivity, referring to the integration of air travel with land, sea and rail transport. Without reliable onward connections, even well-connected airports struggle to deliver a seamless experience, particularly for emerging or secondary destinations.

The fourth priority is improving access to accurate, real-time traveller information, including transport schedules, border requirements and local mobility options, across every stage of the journey.

Salvador C Britanico, vice president for sustainability and strategy at Philippine Airlines, framed route development from an airline’s commercial perspective.

“If you’re thinking like an airline, three words matter: demand, infrastructure and policy,” he said. “Even by the stroke of a pen, taxation, visa rules or travel friction can change everything.”

He explained that visa requirements, border controls, aviation taxes, fuel pricing and airport charges directly affect passenger demand and route viability. In some cases, routes struggle not because travellers lack interest, but because regulatory barriers suppress demand in one direction, making services commercially unsustainable.

Data also emerged as a critical enabler of collaboration.

Olivier Ponti, director of market intelligence and insights at Amadeus, said data is no longer a “nice to have” in route development, but the foundation of credible partnerships between destinations and airlines.

“If you want to increase air connectivity, you really need to see this as teamwork. Data provides a common ground of understanding,” he said.

Ponti added that by tracking booking trends, seasonality, origin markets and traveller behaviour, destinations can help airlines identify opportunities early and intervene before routes underperform.

“The real work isn’t just launching routes. It’s sustaining them.”