DMIA Roadshow in Hong Kong
- Bayanihan Kennedy Town
Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) President and CEO Victor Jose Luciano informs overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Hong Kong during the first-ever international roadshow to promote the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA). The event, dubbed “Para Sa Iyo, Ang Airport Na Ito,” was held at the Bayanihan Kennedy Town Center in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) on August 30. More than 100 OFWs attended the event that was sponsored by Cebu Pacific Air and organized with the Department of Tourism (DOT) office in Hong Kong. Presentations from Cebu Pacific and Zest Air as well as presentations by the Clark Development Corporation (CDC) and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) were made during the program. CIAC Chairman Architect Nestor Mangio also made a presentation at the said event, the first of two held in Hong SAR, the other being a meeting with travel agents and Hong Kong-based media at the Langham Place Hotel on August 31. (Photos courtesy of CIAC Public Affairs)
- at Langham Palace Hotel
- Meeting at Langham Place Hotel
OFWs vow to support development of DMIA
Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) based in Hong Kong vowed to support the development of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) by flying through Clark when vacationing or leaving the country.
Hundreds of OFWs trooped to the Bayanihan Kennedy Town Center on August 30 during the marketing and promotional event of the Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) dubbed: “Para sa Iyo, Ang Airport na Ito.”
“We were surprised by the support of the OFWs,” CIAC President and CEO Victor Jose I. Luciano, who led the CIAC delegation in a two-day roadshow in the former crown colony, said.
“Ang DMIA ang airport ng mga OFWs. Hindi congested dahil in 15 minutes nakalabas kana sa airport,” Luciano pointed out.
The DMIA hosts foreign and local carriers that include Air Asia of Malaysia, Tiger Airways of Singapore, South Korea’s Asiana Airlines and local carriers Cebu Pacific Air, the country’s leading domestic carrier, and South East Asian Airlines (Seair).
Cebu Pacific Air shouldered the airfare for the CIAC delegation to Hong Kong. It flies to the former Crown Colony six times a week. Aside from Hong Kong, Cebu Pacific also flies four times weekly to Macau and Singapore, twice weekly to Bangkok and thrice weekly to Cebu.
Cebu Pacific Air is an unfailing supporter of the promotion efforts for the DMIA, its fourth hub in the country. The country’s leading domestic airline has been present in all the CIAC’s roadshow activities in Luzon and has raffled off free roundtrip tickets to ASEAN destinations to promote their flights at the DMIA and the airport.
Zest Air, a new local carrier, will start its Clark-HK-Clark route on September 21 while Spirit of Manila Airlines (SOMA) is also expected to start operations from the DMIA soon.
“The expected increase in flights is adding to the popularity of the airport and is boosting its viability as the country’s premier airport which is in line with President Arroyo’s declaration of the DMIA as the country’s next premier international airport and best logistics and services hub in the Asia Pacific Region,” Luciano said.
Luciano also said CIAC will provide shuttle service between DMIA and the transport terminals outside the Clark airport, Angeles City and Mabalacat to provide seamless transport services to passengers arriving through the Clark airport.
On Monday, Luciano met with 50 Chinese travel agents, travel media and Hong Kong-based Filipino journalists at the Star Room of the Langham Place Hotel in Mongkok, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR during the promotional blitz dubbed “Via DMIA: Rediscover Clark and Subic, Philippines.”
Presentations were given by tourism stakeholders in the Clark Freeport that include Clark Development Corporation (CDC) Tourism Manager Noemi Garcia, Raul Marcelo of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and former tourism secretary Mina Gabor.
The Commission on Filipinos Overseas, in a Stock Estimate of Overseas Filipinos it prepared and issued, noted that there are 130,537 overseas Filipinos in Hong Kong as of December 2007. A National Statistics Office (NSO) survey on overseas Filipinos in 2008 showed a significant portion of the OFWs in Hong Kong are within surrounding area of the DMIA, 14.5 percent of which are from Central Luzon where the DMIA is located and 14 percent are from the National Capital Region (NCR) that can be reached in just about an hour from the Clark airport.
Luciano said they would want to attract a chunk of the Hong Kong tourists, arrivals of which reached more than 29.5 million overnight and same day visitors in 2008.
“This first-ever CIAC international roadshow is an opportunity for us to inform the people that there is an airport right at their doorsteps that can bring them to various Southeast Asian countries for business or employment and, in the case of our OFWs, most of which come from the Northern Philippines, the frequent and low-cost flights at the DMIA mean they can come home more frequently and economically,” Luciano stressed.
The Hong Kong roadshow was an offshoot of the promotional blitz held in northern Philippines earlier this year. The Clark airport roadshow was launched at the Hotel Vida in the Clark Freeport Zone on March 20.
Consul General Claro S. Cristobal of the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong SAR has also urged OFWs to support the development of the Clark airport noting that the airport in Manila was already “congested.”
“Wala na pong lugar sa Maynila and the Central Luzon area has so much potential for growth,” Cristobal said as he urged OFWs to fly through the DMIA to support its development.
One Response to “DMIA Roadshow in Hong Kong”
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Mr. Luciano seems to be doing well in CIAC. We hope the next president will not remove him from the airport company.