DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 11 January) — Sports and medical tourism is the “low-hanging fruit” that can sustain the possible revival of the air connectivity between Davao City and Manado in Indonesia, a business leader said.
Arturo Milan, co-chair of the Regional Development Council, told “Wednesdays Media Forum at the Habi at Kape,” that tourism could potentially address the issue of traffic sustainability, which remains to be the greatest challenge for the Davao-Manado-Davao flight.
He said sports and medical tourism would encourage people to travel, and could attract a considerable number of travelers via direct connectivity between these two cities.
“We’ve had three attempts already on how to make connectivity between Davao and Manado sustainable. It’s really about traffic development – how we can develop the traffic. There is a low-lying fruit that can jumpstart the development of traffic between these two cities. I would say tourism,” he said.
He said people behind sports in Davao aspire to revive the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), which can spur movement of people among the member countries.
Milan believes that Davao has a strong potential for medical tourism and can offer services to Indonesians in North Sulawesi.
“Those coming from North Sulawesi – their hospitals are not yet as advanced as what we have here in Davao. They need to travel to mainland Jakarta and that takes four hours to fly,” he said. The Davao-Manado flight takes only two hours.
Delegates from Davao embarked on a business mission to Manado last January 6 to explore the possible revival of Davao-Manado-Davao flights.
Garuda Group’s Citylink Indonesia revived Davao-Manado-Davao air route with its twice-weekly flights on September 27, 2019. However, then Mayor Sara Duterte suspended four international flights, including Garuda’s Davao-Manado-Davao, and 21 domestic flights from Davao International Airport effective March 2020 to contain the spread of coronavirus disease.
Under the “Air Transport Agreement” signed between the Philippines and Indonesia on March 24, 1972, the two countries agreed to enhance the mutually beneficial economic relations and people-to-people contact stemming from centuries-old ties of both nations.
A subsequent memorandum of understanding on the expansion of air linkages between and among Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines was also signed in 2007 where Davao and Manado had been identified as designated points.
Milan said that traffic can develop over time for as long there are regular flights flying between the two cities.
Meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions can potentially promote the city’s tourism that can encourage exchange of tourists between Davao and Manado, he said. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
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