CEB award to benefit entire tourism industry

CEBU, Philippines - The recent recognition of Cebu Pacific Air (CEB) as one of Smart Travel Asia’s Top 10 Budget Airlines, is seen to benefit the entire tourism industry in the Philippines, as this will encourage more foreign tourists to visit the country.

“It is a welcome development for CEB and the DoT. We congratulate them for their success. This will surely benefit the entire tourism industry,” said DOT undersecretary for Special Concerns Phineas Alburo.

CEB went up in the rankings in Smart Travel Asia’s Top 10 Budget Airlines of 2009 poll from last year’s rank of 5th to 4th place this year.

Alburo said the award has further capitalized Cebu Pacific’s niche in providing affordable fares and expanding its reach to more destinations in the Philippines.

According to a statement from CEB, SmartTravelAsia.com, Asia’s leading online travel magazine with one million readers worldwide, revealed the results of their May-July 2009 Best in Travel survey recently.

Low cost carriers were rated based on ticket prices, schedule reliability, quality of service, route network and access. Aside from airlines, they also polled their readers in top destinations, hotels and resorts.

“We are happy that the website’s worldwide audience appreciated Cebu Pacific’s great value fares and flights. Our growth and expansion in the Asian and domestic markets are very exciting, and we are glad that people have noticed,” said CEB VP for marketing and distribution Candice Iyog.

“This year, we started flying to 11 new routes. We also expect delivery of two ATR-7200 aircraft by the end of the year, which will surely provide our passengers with convenient air travel, low fares, and more flights, frequencies and destinations,” she added.

In 2009, CEB began services from Manila to Catarman, Virac, Cauayan, Calbayog and Ozamiz; from Cebu to Cotabato, Legazpi, Dumaguete, Siargao and Roxas; and from Davao to Cagayan de Oro.

In September last year, CEB president and chief executive officer (CEO) Lance Gokongwei announced the US$40 million expansion move of the airline in Cebu, providing two more aircraft in the Cebu hub, to service more destinations, within the Southern Philippines.— Ehda M. Dagooc