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Clark airport now ranks 3rd busiest int’l gateway in RP
By Ding Cervantes
Mar 10, 2010
CLARK FREEPORT – The Department of Tourism (DOT) said yesterday that the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) here has become the country’s third ranking port of entry based on airlines passenger volume last year.
“Of the county’s total foreign visitor arrivals at more than three million in 2009, some 10 percent or a total of 331,445 visitors landed at the DMIA,” said DOT regional director Ronaldo Tioutuico.
Tiotuico said that the figures derived from reports of international carriers indicated that DMIA ranked third in number of arriving passengers, next only to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and the Cebu International Airport.
He cited DMIA records indicating that Air Asia airlines, with routes to Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia garnered the biggest haul of 87,899 passengers, while Cebu Pacific, with routes to Hong Kong and Bangkok, hauled a total of 80,515 passengers. Tiger Airways which has flights to Singapore, had 69,083 passengers.
This, even as Tiotuico noted that despite the outbreak of H1N1 virus and the floods wrought by storm Ondoy and typhoon Pepeng, tourism in Central Luzon peaked last year to post the highest number of visits of an estimated 550,277 domestic and foreign tourists.
Tiotuico noted that domestic tourism has remained the backbone of the tourism industry in Central Luzon.
“Amidst the unfortunate chain of events that took place in the year 2009, including the outbreak of H1N1 virus in the region, the global financial crisis that triggered a slowdown in world economy,” he said.
“And the widespread devastation wrought by typhoon Ondoy, Central Luzon tourism industry still managed to survive by posting a still modest positive growth in terms of visitor arrivals in 2009 as compared to that of 2008,” Tiotuico added.
Based on the figures submitted by hotels in various parts of Central Luzon, at least 550,277 tourists visited the region last year, higher than the estimated 530,802 tourists in 2008 or an increase of 3.67 percent.
Tiotuico noted, however, that rise in tourist visitations from 2007 to 2008 was much higher at 24.20 percent.
He said 395,189 of the tourists who visited Central Luzon last year were Filipinos from other regions, while 151,228 were foreigners.
“They all stayed at least one night in various accommodation facilities mostly at Clark Freeport and in Angeles City in Pampanga and Olongapo City and Subic Bay Freeport in Zambales,” he added.
Tiotuico said Clark “is known for its quality and world-class amenities with globally-acceptable room accommodation facilities to make one’s stay most pleasant, while Subic Bay Freeport boasts not only of equally standard-class amenities but also of nature-based attractions.”
Most of the foreign visitors were Americans who numbered 29,074, followed by Japanese at 12,437 and South Koreans at 7,674.
“It is common knowledge that Americans and Japanese visit the country for sentimental reasons such as wanting to meet their relatives and friends. Koreans, on the other hand, visit the country to learn English as a second language as a matter of priority,” Tiotuico noted.
Tiotuico also said “the persistent strength of domestic travel throughout the country is duly attributed to the so-called holiday economics where Filipinos plan their vacation ahead of time targeting mostly those long weekends.”
“As most domestic travelers to the region come from Metro Manila, the full completion and seamless complementation between the North Luzon and Subic-Clark-Tarlac expressways augured well for the transformation of the Northern Luzon regions as a favorite destination,” he said.
“Of the county’s total foreign visitor arrivals at more than three million in 2009, some 10 percent or a total of 331,445 visitors landed at the DMIA,” said DOT regional director Ronaldo Tioutuico.
Tiotuico said that the figures derived from reports of international carriers indicated that DMIA ranked third in number of arriving passengers, next only to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and the Cebu International Airport.
He cited DMIA records indicating that Air Asia airlines, with routes to Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia garnered the biggest haul of 87,899 passengers, while Cebu Pacific, with routes to Hong Kong and Bangkok, hauled a total of 80,515 passengers. Tiger Airways which has flights to Singapore, had 69,083 passengers.
This, even as Tiotuico noted that despite the outbreak of H1N1 virus and the floods wrought by storm Ondoy and typhoon Pepeng, tourism in Central Luzon peaked last year to post the highest number of visits of an estimated 550,277 domestic and foreign tourists.
Tiotuico noted that domestic tourism has remained the backbone of the tourism industry in Central Luzon.
“Amidst the unfortunate chain of events that took place in the year 2009, including the outbreak of H1N1 virus in the region, the global financial crisis that triggered a slowdown in world economy,” he said.
“And the widespread devastation wrought by typhoon Ondoy, Central Luzon tourism industry still managed to survive by posting a still modest positive growth in terms of visitor arrivals in 2009 as compared to that of 2008,” Tiotuico added.
Based on the figures submitted by hotels in various parts of Central Luzon, at least 550,277 tourists visited the region last year, higher than the estimated 530,802 tourists in 2008 or an increase of 3.67 percent.
Tiotuico noted, however, that rise in tourist visitations from 2007 to 2008 was much higher at 24.20 percent.
He said 395,189 of the tourists who visited Central Luzon last year were Filipinos from other regions, while 151,228 were foreigners.
“They all stayed at least one night in various accommodation facilities mostly at Clark Freeport and in Angeles City in Pampanga and Olongapo City and Subic Bay Freeport in Zambales,” he added.
Tiotuico said Clark “is known for its quality and world-class amenities with globally-acceptable room accommodation facilities to make one’s stay most pleasant, while Subic Bay Freeport boasts not only of equally standard-class amenities but also of nature-based attractions.”
Most of the foreign visitors were Americans who numbered 29,074, followed by Japanese at 12,437 and South Koreans at 7,674.
“It is common knowledge that Americans and Japanese visit the country for sentimental reasons such as wanting to meet their relatives and friends. Koreans, on the other hand, visit the country to learn English as a second language as a matter of priority,” Tiotuico noted.
Tiotuico also said “the persistent strength of domestic travel throughout the country is duly attributed to the so-called holiday economics where Filipinos plan their vacation ahead of time targeting mostly those long weekends.”
“As most domestic travelers to the region come from Metro Manila, the full completion and seamless complementation between the North Luzon and Subic-Clark-Tarlac expressways augured well for the transformation of the Northern Luzon regions as a favorite destination,” he said.
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