The Department of Tourism-Cordillera will be working with its counterpart in Cebu in order to improve and sustain the connectivity of Baguio City and Cebu with the opening of the Baguio-Cebu and vice versa flights through the country’s flag carrier Philippine Airlines on Dec. 16.
DOT-Cordillera Director Jovita Ganongan said the DOT in Cebu has invited them to organize the tourism stakeholders of the city for a visit in the Visayas tourist city and promote it to the constituents of Baguio and the rest of the region.
She said they will work on marketing both places to each other to maintain the two-way flights planned after Baguio’s Loakan Airport has been given the green light to operate commercial flights again after years of non-operation, and for the first time with Cebu, the commercial heart of the Visayas region.
Ganongan added DOT-CAR has anticipated the opening of the Cebu and Visayas market to Baguio, reason why they have been attending tourism fairs held in Cebu to explore ways of improving its connectivity with the mountain city, which would also encourage visits to tourist destinations in its adjoining towns and provinces.
“Cebu is Cebu. It has international flights everyday, so we are not just looking into (tapping) the domestic market from the area, but also international tourists, so we really also have to be ready for our products and facilities here,” Ganongan said, adding the marketing of these places has to be a collaboration between Cebu and Baguio.
Tourism Sec. Christina Frasco also earlier said PAL’s new Cebu-Baguio route will certainly provide new opportunities that would propel closer interaction between the two most prominent tourist destinations in the country.
PAL itself considers the new route as “pioneer and a historic homecoming for Asia’s first airline.”
In its October press announcement, PAL president and Chief Operations Officer Capt. Stanley Ng said the new route will be “PAL’s comeback to the very first destination we served nearly 82 years ago, so we are happy to be flying back to where it all started.”
PAL’s new route between the Queen City of the South and City of Pines will start on Dec. 16 with four Cebu-Baguio and vice versa flights a week with convenient morning departures:
PR 2230 Cebu-Baguio – every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday departing Mactan, Cebu at 8:50 a.m. arriving at Baguio Loakan Airport at 10:50 a.m.; and
PR 2231 Baguio-Cebu – every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday departing Baguio at 11:10 a.m. arriving in Cebu at 1 p.m. – Hanna C. Lacsamana
