A breakthrough in tourism is happening this June when the Philippine Airlines will commence its first daily direct commercial flight from Incheon International Airport in South Korea to Tagbilaran City.

Gov. Edgar Chatto, who worked double time in coordinating the requirements for the said direct flights told the Chronicle that this will boost the tourist arrivals in the province as he announced the first direct flight from Seoul, South Korea to arrive at Tagbilaran City Airport at 6 a.m. on June 22.

The governor who is the top “salesman” of Bohol said final preparations were already sealed including earlier concerns on the plane’s fueling system and the need for customs, immigration and quarantine officers to be stationed in Bohol.

A check made with Philippine Airlines likewise showed confirmation on this first regular commercial international flights to Bohol.

Emma Casenas, PAL Bohol manager told the Chronicle yesterday the flight will leave Incheon International Airport at 2:30a.m. , arriving Tagbilaran Airport at 6:00 a.m.

The Airbus-320 carries 156 passengers including 12 in the Business Class.

The direct flight from Korea will likewise carry passengers bound for Clark, Pampanga where the plane will proceed after arriving at the Tagbilaran City Airport.

The flight leaves Tagbilaran for Clark at 6:40am , arriving Clark at 8:00am.

The return flight leaves Clark at 3:00pm, arriving Tagbilaran at 4:20pm in time for its departure back to Korea at 5:20pm.     

The premier flight from Korea came barely three months after the visit here of Philippine Airlines Assistant Vice President/Commercial and Business Development PAL Express Rabbi Ang.

The original plan was to field the flight only four times weekly.  However, seeing the volume of tourists from Korea wanting to explore Bohol’s vast tourism potentials, PAL decided to make it a daily flight with connection to Clark, Pampanga.

The Clark connection will also bring Luzon tourists to Bohol and vice versa.

The Airbus-320 will be boarding Bohol bound passengers at the Incheon International Airport which is one of the largest and busiest airports in the world. Since 2005, it has been rated as the “best airport worldwide” by Airports Council International and also rated as the world’s cleanest airport and the world;s best international airport transit by Skyrak.

The launching of the direct flight from and back to Korea is expected to boost the tourists arrivals here.

In 2016, the tourist arrivals registered at 820,640 with the Koreans ranked second on the most number of tourists coning to Bohol.   Chinese tourists topped the tabulation at 59,000 while Koreans stood at 39,000.