Philippine Airlines announced new direct flights from Cebu City to Bangkok and vice versa this December.

“Amidst public demand for direct non-stop flights from Asian destinations to Central Visayas, Philippine Airlines will be opening a thrice weekly Cebu-Bangkok-Cebu service starting Dec. 2, 2017,” said PAL.

Passengers of the new flights will take the airline company’s 199-seater Airbus A321 and will get to choose from business, premium economy and economy seats.

Departure flights for PR578 (CEB-BKK) are scheduled every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with a departure time of 9:25 pm at Mactan Cebu International Airport and an arrival time of 12:10 am at Bangkok’s Survarnabhumi Airport local time.

Return flights for PR579 (BKK-CEB) are available every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 1:30am local time and arrival at 6:15 am.

PAL will treat its guests to free baggage allowance, in-flight entertainment, in-flight delectable meals, and free WiFi access to keep themselves occupied throughout the trip that will last for three hours and 45 minutes.

The Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu (HRRAC) is quite positive in its expectations of the effects that this new route would likely have on the tourism industry in Cebu, especially more Thai tourists and more opportunities to show Cebu’s great tourist spots.

These new flights from PAL will likely boost the already growing number of tourists from Thailand that are visiting Cebu and its neighboring islands. There were 3,377 tourists from Thailand who visited Central Visayas from January to April 2017, which is 28.65 percent more than the figures in the same period in 2016. Cebu alone was visited by 2,813 tourists from Thailand during the said period.

Aside from the tourist spots in the Philippines, Thai Trade Center director Rachakorn Saksri noted the impact of the Filipinos’ “friendliness.”

“Thai tourists come to the Philippines because of its people. You are friendly. It is more fun in the Philippines,” Saksri said.

She added that Thais also love the country’s scuba diving spots.

Both countries can expect more tourism opportunities as they agreed to bring back the over two- decade-old tourism cooperation agreement earlier this year, which require travel agents in Thailand and the Philippines to create joint promotional programs that would include both countries’ tourist destinations in travel packages.