Seen to boost tourism in the province.
At an engagement in Binondo, Manila last Friday, February 13, it was formally announced that there will be a new direct flight route that will connect the Philippines and China.
In his message at the event, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. addressed Chinese Ambassador to Manila Jing Quan and said, “I thank you very much for the good news that you have brought about the flights going to Cebu and I hope that it will be the beginning of more interactions and people-to-people exchange between China and the Philippines.”
The chief executive said this in response to the ambassador, who spoke before him and officially announced that China has decided to open direct flights between Fujian and Cebu.
Citing requests from the Chinese diaspora in Cenu to open direct flights between the province and Fujian, he explained that the decision was based on the statistics that 90 percent of Filipino-Chinese are from Fujian, adding that Chinese tourists can also directly come to Cebu visa-free.
The Chinese envoy said the first flight will depart on March 29, with two flights each week. “And if there are more tourists coming, then we will increase more,” he added.
Meanwhile, there are also more flights coming to the Manila-Fujian route, with China agreeing to add two more direct flights between Manila and Fujian due to high volume of tourists.
He confined, “At the same time, we also hope to further strengthen our law enforcement cooperation with the Philippine side to jointly fight against crime and to ensure the safety for normal people-to-people exchanges.”