NAIA still RP’s principal gateway

The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) will remain as the Philippines’ premier international gateway despite the existence of other international airports in the country, declared the Department of Tourism (DOT).

In its Tourism Master Plan (TMP), the DOT picked Manila as the most highly urbanized location in the country with the most number of first-class accommodation in contrast to other Luzon international airports in Clark, Subic, and Laoag, Ilocos Norte.

The DOT, however, said that being the country’s principal gateway for foreign travel, there is a need to improve on Manila’s tourist services and facilities, particularly its airport facilities.

The TMP urged the improvement on the airport flow, the handling of departing and arriving passengers, and the transport to and from the airport in order to accommodate the expected increase in foreign passenger movement as well as tourist arrivals.

Recently, the National Economic and Development Authority Investment Coordinating Council (NEDA-ICC), a government agency that screens projects for official development assistance (ODA), approved the P9.76-billion airport access road.

Public Works Undersecretary Teodoro Encarnacion said the construction of the alternative access road was in anticipation of projected heavier traffic in the area with the completion of NAIA International Passenger Terminal 3 (IPT 3) by December next year.

The two-phase project involves the construction of a 6.2-kilometer elevated structure, which will provide an alternative expressway linking Fort Bonifacio and NAIA Terminal 1, 2 and 3 and end at Roxas Blvd.

With the scheduled opening of NAIA 3 and the Davao International Airport in 2003 plus the increase in passenger traffic to 13 million per year, Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon expects the country to increase its share of world tourist receipts (WTR) which currently amounts to only $2.5 billion.

"East Asia and the Pacific had the highest growth in the year 2000. International tourist arrivals registered 14.7 percent more than 1999. If this trend continues, the World Trade Organization (WTO) forecasts that East Asia and the Pacific will overtake the America in terms of tourist arrivals and land the number two slot in the world, right after Europe," Gordon said.

Currently, there are about seven to eight million passengers passing through the 20-year-old NAIA Terminal 1 which was originally designed to accommodate four million passengers annually.

Gordon has recently endorsed the construction of the new NAIA IPT 3, citing it as a boost to the country’s effort to tap a larger chunk of WTR which is estimated to total $500 billion annually.

The $252 million-NAIA IPT 3 build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract awarded to the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. (PIATCO) is already 45 percent complete and will be operational by end of 2002. It has a capacity of 13 million passengers per year and can handle 28 airplanes at any given time.

NAIA IPT 3 will stand on an 180,000 square meter lot with world-class amenities and services, spacious well-wishers lounge, ecumenical chapels, food galleries with a variety of culinary choices, duty-free shops, parking building, and modern business conference rooms.