Tourism growth seen with new Palawan-Cebu flights
By Cris Evert Lato
Cebu Daily News
First Posted 08:55:00 06/21/2008
Puerto Princesa, Palawan — With a new air route connecting Cebu and Palawan, the tourism linkage between both destinations is expected to grow.
National flag-carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL), through its low fares unit PAL Express, recently opened direct flights between Mactan in Cebu and Puerto Princesa in Palawan.
Both areas are considered prime tourist destinations in the central Philippines super region.
“Cebu is a premier tourist destination for tourists. We’re hoping to get tourists who go to Cebu and Palawan. We can help each other,” said Palawan Rep. Abraham Kahlil Mitra in an interview at the family ranch on Thursday.
Mitra said Palawan can share with Cebu its best practices as an eco-tourism destination.
The province is known for its natural attractions such as the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park and Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park.
Both were declared world heritage sites of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Mitra said they still need infrastructure such as roads, hotels and airports.
“We don’t even have one-half of the tourist arrivals in Cebu,” he said.
He said Tourism Secretary Ace Durano visited Palawan for a week two years ago to see where the province needs to improve and develop.
Four airport projects are targeted for completion by 2010.
These are the existing Puerto Princesa Airport, which serves domestic routes, two international airports in the municipalities of San Vicente and Coron in the north, and a domestic airport in Balabac town in the south.
Mitra said the first three airports will have international standards and will be funded by the government, while the fourth airport is privately funded.
The San Vicente Airport development project will cost P303-million.
The Busuanga Airport project in Coron is estimated to cost P1.25 billion, the Puerto Princesa Airport — P3.25 billion and Balabac Airport — P303 million.
The construction and improvement of these airports will boost tourist arrivals in the province, Mitra said.
Palawan continues to attract investments for hotels, resorts and restaurants.
Mitra said he learned from Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn that there are around 250 applicants for these kinds of investments in the city alone.
Livelihood remains one of the problems in Palawan, he said.
“Our biggest employment is in government (employees). We don’t have large industries, not that we don’t want to have any. They don’t want to come because of economies of scale.”
Mitra said that what Palawan lacks in industrial development is compensated by its unique tourist attractions and destinations especially in the north.
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