Travel Tourism Travel time
Post on: 2011-11-02 By: admin
with more flights, planesCEBU PACIFIC AIR (CEB) is beefing up its operations within the region beginning 2012.Travelers will get the chance to island-hop in Sabah
Starting January of next year, the budget airline is increasing the number of flights to destinations such as Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Beijing, Brunei and Bangkok. The delivery of new Airbus A320 aircraft in the first quarter of 2012 is expected to lower the price of air travel even further.
To promote its international destinations, CEB has hosted media backpacking challenges with the objective of creating itinerary “blueprints” for Filipino travelers.
The most recent challenge was held in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah state in East Malaysia. The goal: to demonstrate that a budget of P7,000 is enough for a three-day stay in the city.
CEB corporate communication specialist Michelle Eve de Guzman explained that through the program, the airline hopes to promote tourism in nearby places such as Sabah.
Data from Tourism Malaysia places the Philippines in its top 10 for tourist arrivals.
“Our culture is the same,” said a Tourism Malaysia official of the attractions of his country to Filipino tourists.
View of Mt. Kinabalu from a distance
“If you come here, you’ll see that we have the same words, that people here have the same faces. The food is no problem because we all like to eat rice.
“We’re just an hour away. You’re outside your country but you feel like you’re home. It’s different but the same,” the official said.
He added that the potential for regional tourism among neighboring countries such as the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore is “huge.”
He said that the region can also capitalize on other international markets such as Europe.
In a recent statement released by the United Nations-World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Malaysian Prime Minister Dato Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak said that tourism has a crucial role in transforming Malaysia into a high-income country by 2020.
Sabah Tourism chairman Dato Seri Tengku Zainal Adlin, on the other hand, said that tourism is one of the biggest employers in Malaysia. He added that in the coming years, it is projected that one in four tourists will be bound for a destination in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
“We have to strengthen ties within our region,” he said. “I believe that, as neighbors, we should grow together. What we have, you do not have. And what you have, we do not have.Our region should cooperate and prosper together.”
Cebu Pacific is planning more flights to tourist destinations in Asia like Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Beijing, Brunei and Bangkok in 2012. -- AFP
The latest issue of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer named Southeast Asia as one of the subregions achieving double-digit growth in international tourist arrivals for the first four months of 2011.
Based on statistics from Tourism Towards 2030, the long-term forecast of UNWTO released this October, international arrivals in emerging economy destinations, including those in Asia, are expected to continue growing at double the pace (+4.4% year) of advanced ones (+2.2% a year).
“In absolute terms, the emerging economies of Asia, Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, Eastern Mediterranean Europe, the Middle East and Africa will gain an average 30 million arrivals a year, compared to 14 million in the traditional destinations of the advanced economies of North America, Europe and Asia and the Pacific,” the report said.
The report continues that by 2015, emerging economies will receive more international tourist arrivals than advanced economies, and by 2030 their share is expected to reach 58%.
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Paco Park Presents. Oct. 29, 6 p.m. Paco Park, San Marcelino, Paco, Manila.
Seussical. Until mid-December. Onstage, Greenbelt 1, Makati
Peter Pan. Until Oct. 30. Meralco Theater, Ortigas Ave., QC.
Click here for the complete guide
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