More Filipinos traveling in style
Inflation is proving to be no match for a lot of FIlipinos who can’t seem to shake off the travel bug.
Indeed, more Filipinos booked business class seats for their flights in the first three quarters of 2023, most of which were routed to the United States, Canada, Japan and Singapore, according to travel platform Trevolution Group.
In a recent report, Trevolution reported that bookings for business class surged by 79 percent during the period while economy class flights rose by 59 percent.
It sold over 117,000 airline tickets to and from the Philippines in January to September, showing 16-percent growth. In gross value, Trevolution saw its revenues improve by over 20 percent to $183 million.
The top destination cities include Los Angeles, Toronto, San Francisco, New York and Vancouver.
“As the proportion of the America-based Filipino community is continuously growing, this pattern is heavily influenced by VFR (visiting-friends-and-relatives) tourism being one of the main reasons for these passengers frequently flying to the Philippines and back to North American cities, as well as vice versa instead of other global destinations,” Trevolution said.
Airline passengers from the Philippines tend to make last-minute decision when it comes to purchasing their plane tickets. Less than a quarter would buy tickets over 90 days in advance.
In addition, the average length of stay abroad is around 62 days, which is about the same period a year ago.
“This indicates that travelers still tend to make up for the two pandemic years and thus feel more confident about spending more time abroad now that the industry has recovered, especially when visiting their friends and family or working remotely,” the travel platform explained.
For inbound passengers, the travel platform noted they usually choose Manila and Cebu as the main arrival airports.
“Over the past years, Cebu has evolved into a thriving economic center and tourism hub, and it is one of the fastest developing cities in the Philippines,” Trevolution said.
Inbound travelers—who usually come from United States, Canada, Japan and Australia—stay in the Philippines for over a month.
As of end-September, the country saw 4 million tourist arrivals, which is near the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) full-year target of 4.8 million visitors. Around 92 percent of the figure was accounted for by foreign visitors while the rest represented overseas Filipinos.
The DOT noted that the country’s top visitors for the period were South Koreans, followed by travelers from the United States, Japan, China, Australia, Canada, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Singapore and Malaysia.
According to S&P Global Ratings, the aviation sector in Asia Pacific, including the Philippines, is now on its path to full recovery as early as next year as passenger volume continues to show momentum post-lockdown.
In fact, passenger air traffic in the region was expected to return to pre-pandemic levels over the next 12 to 18 months.
Based on Association of Asia Pacific Airlines data, the carriers in the region serviced 194 million passengers in the first three quarters, skyrocketing more than 200 percent year-on-year.
The recorded passenger volume was 69 percent of the 281 million passengers the Asia Pacific airlines flew in the same period in 2019 or prior to the pandemic.
Local carriers have also been seeing positive trajectory with their operations with the opening of more routes.
Philippine Airlines, for example, serviced 11 million passengers as of end-September. This was more than the 6.4 million passengers in the same period last year and the 9.3 million passengers for the entire 2022.
Cebu Pacific, on the other hand, saw its passenger volume soar by 48.8 percent to 15.5 million.
Both carriers are also in the process of acquiring more jets to address the expected surge in demand for air travel moving forward.
Meanwhile, the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) reported that Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) saw passenger volume grow by 59 percent to 33.76 million from January to September. This was about 95 percent of the pre-pandemic levels.
The country’s main international gateway accommodated 2016,050 flights during the first three quarters, up 31 percent from a year ago.
MIAA is optimistic that it would achieve year-end projections of 45 million passengers and 275,000 flights served as Naia continues to welcome more guests.
