Despite plenty of plane seats, Europeans still not

Why do European tourists continue to shy away from the country despite the availability of hundreds of thousands of airline seats and the big number of carriers flying from European cities to the Philippines?

This question was raised by Robert Lim Joseph Jr., president of the Network of Independent Travel Agencies and a prime mover behind the Save our Skies (SOS) movement, to refute claims by pro-open skies advocates that more airline seats mean more tourists.

"If the number of airline seats determines arrivals, why are there very few European tourists even though several foreign airlines fly the Manila-Europe route?" Joseph asked.

Joseph’s groups oppose open skies because of its detrimental effect to the aviation industry. They are instead advocating for progressive liberalization or the gradual and rational expansion of air routes on the basis of market demand on a country-by-country and route-by-route basis.

He said among the European carriers that fly to the Philippines are Lufthansa German Airlines, Swissair, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, British Airways and Air France.

Likewise, there are Asian and Middle East airlines that fly the Philippines-Europe route, Joseph said. The Asian carriers are Cathay Pacific Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Thai International, Eva Airways, Asian Airlines, Korean Air, China Airlines, Vietnam Airlines and Pakistan International Airlines.

The Mideast airlines are Egyptair, Qatar Airways, Kuwait Airways, Emirates, Gulf Air and Saudia. Besides these airlines with regular routes, there are also carriers that connect to Europe from other foreign cities like Alitalia and Aeroflot.

Joseph, who has previously worked for Egyptair, Kuwait Airways and Korean Air, said these airlines carry Filipino passengers like overseas contract workers but it is not a must for them to bring in tourists or promote the country.

He disclosed that many foreign carriers have rights to fly to the Philippines but they do not exercise these for lack of passengers and demand.

"Ayusin muna natain ang seguridad. Linisin muna natin ang ating kapaligiran. Ayusin muna natin ang trapiko at inprastraktura para pumunta rito ang mga turista (Let us first restore security, clean our environment, ease traffic congestion and construct the necessary infrastructure so that tourists will come in)," he stressed.

He said Philippine Airlines (PAL) does not enjoy a monopoly because it does not even fly to Europe. In places that PAL flies to like Hong Kong, it has always a formidable competitor.

Joseph also refuted a claim that an open skies environment would result in lower fares. He revealed that fare rates in the 70s are still the same as today despite the competition. Citing an example, the one-way fare to London in 1969 was $350. Today, this is still the going rate.

Citing another example, the round-trip Manila-Los Angeles-Manila fare in the 70s was $650. Today, the rate is still the same, except during the peak season.

Industry data showed that there are enough air rights to cover eight to nine million seats per year. Industry analysts explained that foreign carriers are only interested in servicing areas in the country that are profitable like Manila.

These foreign carriers do not fly to such other destinations as Cebu, Davao, Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga cities despite having rights to service these places.

"They do not generate more passengers by investing in tourism promotion but actually poach on existing traffic," they said.