Long lobbying for the opening of direct flights between Davao City and Japan to boost tourism and foster trade links, Davao City’s business community sees bright hopes after their recent trips to Tokyo, Hitachinaka, and Saitama.
Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc (DCCCII) President Arturo Milan told media in Wednesdays at Habi at Kape that among the objectives of the recent trip was to talk and invite All Nippon Airways (ANA) to fly to Davao.
According to Milan, the airline company was surprised because it appears Davao is not in the radar screen in terms of their flight expansion plans.
“So it was really timely that we went there to introduce and to say that there is a potential in developing the route,” Milan said.
He said they were also surprised when he showed to them a slide showing foreign airlines serving Davao directly such as SilkAir, Cathay Dragon, Qatar Airways, Xiamen Air, and Garruda.
“They even asked why not invite local airlines to fly to Japan directly. They were also quiet surprised why foreign airlines are now flying directly to Davao,” Milan said.
Milan said that he had the chance to meet a Japanese Congressman, chairperson of the Philippines-Japan Relations, who promised to talk to ANA about flying directly to Davao.
ANA is 10 percent shareholder of the Philippine Airlines (PAL).
“So it can be either be ANA flying if they consider or they may encourage PAL to fly directly. For me personally I don’t mind any as long as there is a direct flight,” Milan said.
He added that its too early to tell whether they will consider flying but at least are now started talking about Davao, which is not in the radar screen.
“But when we started talking and decribed Davao as a gateway to BIMP-EAGA countries, they were quiet interested,” Milan said.
The establishment of the said route came up because of the number of Filipinos traveling to and living in Japan, as well as Japanese residents who want to travel to Davao City.
Milan also described their recent trip as encouraging because they were able to create awareness among Japanese businessmen about Davao.
It is also their goal to introduce Davao City to the Japanese business sector and look for partners that are willing to do business with the members of the Davao delegation.
“I briefed them what is Davao and they were so surprised that majority of the Filipinos living in Japan according to the statistics from the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo are from Mindanao and those from Mindanao are basically from Davao Region and that can be attributed to our long relationships with Japanese,” Milan said.
He added that after his presentation entitled “Why Davao?” The Japanese have expressed to study business opportunities in Davao.
“That created an awareness to the Japanese businessmen. At least we have hit our objective of creating the awareness about Davao. However, towards the open forum the most pressing question was is there a direct flight to Davao?” Milan said.
Milan also announced that during the trip they signed a sisterhood agreement with Hitachinaka Chamber of Commerce. He said the group’s executive director will be coming to Davao City in January for an OJT at the DCCCII.
“They will just to observe how we run the chamber here in Davao,” he said. Saitama Chamber of Commerce likewise expressed interest to create a sisterhood with DCCCII.
“But in the chamber we need to get the approval of the board before we can sign any agreement. We have to consult our board and explore the possibility of signing an agreement,” Milan said.
