Philippine Airlines said it is increasing its flights frequency on existing routes and opening up new destinations in mainland China in support of the government’s campaign to lure two million Chinese tourists annually.
The Lucio Tan-led carrier will raise its flights between the Philippines and Greater China from the current 99 times weekly to 103 times weekly starting March 25.
“The spike is due to the shift to daily Manila-Jinjiang and Manila-Guangzhou (Canton) services from the current five times weekly on each route,” PAL said.
PAL’s multiple flights from various Chinese cities were a major factor in the huge 43 percent increase in the Philippines’ tourist arrivals from mainland China to 968,447 visitors in 2017.
Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan combined contributed several hundred thousands more tourists, for a combined a total of 1.33 million tourists hailing from the Greater China region.