Traveling to Banaue to visit the world-famous Banaue Rice Terraces is among the popular plans that tourists make for summer – even when travel time from Metro Manila ranges from 6 to 8 hours, one way!
But that’s soon going to end, thanks to the new flights launched by Wakay Air Services. The new flights will be from Clark International Airport in Pampanga to Bagabag Airport, Nueva Vizcaya and vice versa.
The flight will take about an hour, with passengers accommodated in a 38-seater Dornier plane. Once in Nueva Vizcaya, it will take just about an hour for tourists to reach the Banaue Rice Terraces!
There will be four flights a week, starting this May. The actual schedules for the flights will be released soon.
The move was initiated by the Department of Tourism (DOT), thanks to the lead negotiator, Director for the Cordillera Administrative Region Marie Venus Tan, to promote tourism in Banaue since the beautiful vacation spot was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.
In 2016, the tourist destination received over 64,350 visits but this number is expected to rise sharply with the availability of the new flight schedules from Clark.
The new flights were launched at the Internationale Tourismus Borse (ITB), a tourism trade fair in Berlin, Germany.
Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon Tulfo-Teo revealed, “There’s no better occasion to launch a new air route than in the world’s grandest tourism trade fair. This will complement the activities we are promoting in the European market, particularly for travelers who seek cultural immersion in the Philippines.”
So, who’s planning to visit Banaue this summer?