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In a bid to promote the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA), the Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) embarked on its first international roadshow in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR).

Dubbed as “Via DMIA: Rediscover Clark and Subic, Philippines,” the roadshow was at the Langham Place Hotel in Mongkok, Kowloon.

Victor Jose I. Luciano, CIAC President and CEO led the CIAC roadshow team for the marketing and promotional event.

Luciano and CIAC Chairman of the Board Architect Nestor Mangio made presentations on the DMIA while airline representatives demonstrated their airlines’ operations at the Clark airport to at least 50 travel agents and travel media from Hong Kong, Macau and South China.

Presentations were also 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 Philip Goulding of the Clark Freeport Tourism Association (CFTA).

CIAC Marketing Consultant and former tourism secretary Mina Gabor made a presentation on business opportunities in tourism in Clark.

Luciano said Hong Kong represents a rich source of potential tourists who may want to travel to the Philippines via DMIA particularly to visit leisure and business destinations at the Clark and Subic Freeport zones.

“We are launching this major marketing campaign, the first of several that we will be conducting overseas, to sustain the growth of passenger traffic at DMIA. Through this international event, we aim to propagate awareness of the viability of DMIA as an alternative international gateway in Philippine travel,” Luciano said.

The CIAC chief said Hong Kong SAR represents a huge source of likely international travelers, including overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and Hong Kong-Chinese tourists, who may wish to utilize the DMIA as their point of entry or departure.

Located in the Clark Civil Aviation Complex within the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga, the 2,367-hectare DMIA is owned and operated by CIAC.

It has been acknowledged by no less than President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as The Philippines premier international gateway.

The Commission on Filipinos Overseas, in a stock estimate of Overseas Filipinos, said there are 130,537 overseas Filipinos in Hong Kong as of December 2007.

National Statistics Office (NSO) survey on overseas Filipinos in 2008, on the other hand, showed that a significant portion of the OFWs in Hong Kong are within the 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.

“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 DMIA mean they can come home more frequently and economically,” he said.

The Hong Kong Roadshow started with the “Para sa Iyo, Ang Airport na Ito” presentation by the CIAC team at the Bayanihan Kennedy Town Center in Kennedy Town, where the Clark airport roadshow team met with some 250 officers and members of OFW organizations in Hong Kong.

DMIA is currently host to international and domestic flights provided by foreign and local airlines that include Air Asia of Malaysia, Tiger Airways of Singapore, Asiana Airlines of South Korea and local carriers Cebu Pacific Air, the Philippines’ second flag-carrier, and South East Asian Airlines (SEAir).

The Spirit of Manila Airlines is also expected to start operations at DMIA soon.

The expected increase in flights will add to the popularity of the airport and will boost 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.

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