Flying the BIMP-EAGA skies
MINDANAWORLD
Tourism is one of the key sectors on which the members of the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) are focusing their resources.
This is not only because tourism increases the mobility of people and business, but also because it is one of the best ways to ensure intra-regional cooperation.
The Mindanao Economic Development Council reported during the 14th anniversary of the sub-regional group that several air links in the region had been opened with more under discussion.
Among these links are the flights between Zamboanga City and Sandakan, Malaysia, by Asian Spirit airline and the flights between Kuching, Malaysia and Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, by Malaysia’s Air Asia. Several other airlines are also looking into servicing other viable routes.
The attempt to establish air and sea links fits well into the desire of the four countries to intensify travel and tourism between and among them and encourage more business exchanges. But more importantly, the cost of travel must be reasonable and affordable for both business and tourism so that activities within the region would flourish.
There is a need for all the airlines to study their fare structure very carefully to ensure competitiveness, or else people from the regions will not be motivated to travel either for business or tourism.
Budget fares can easily result in greater number of cultural and student exchanges; businessmen visiting the areas to explore what they can do together; more tourists shopping, eating and spending their money.
New air route
Just last week, Indonesia’s Wings Air, a subsidiary of Lion Air, has started its chartered flight between Davao City and Manado, a route that has been abandoned so many times because of very thin traffic.
This time, the Indonesian government will exert efforts to help sustain the service by bringing in greater volume of goods from Manado, Indonesia. Indonesian Consul General Lalu Malik Partawana, who is based in Davao City, informed us that his office would exert all efforts to support the new air route.
I am in Bali, Indonesia, enjoying the week with my family. I could have flown directly from Davao, but I decided to go here via Singapore instead because of the cheaper fare and the easier travel.
More needs to be done to ensure better travel within the region and I had discussed this with the consul when I visited him in his office in Davao. I told him that we should make the air link work this time, and this could be done by creating activities that would encourage movement of people from Davao to Manado and other Indonesian cities and provinces.
Setting the right travel rates is crucial as pegging them too high would prevent people from traveling. If priced right, more people would be encouraged to people.
Fifth Freedom rights
Transporting cargo via the airlines has always been a problem in the sub-region. This prompted the four countries to declare the implementation of the fifth freedom rights so that airline companies can service destinations within the sub-region outside of their main routes.
The four countries even approved the “multiple designation of airlines with no restriction on frequency and capacity” and the “adoption of sub-regional multilateral agreement on common airport tariffs,” hoping that this will trigger more travel within the region.
What needs to be done
Having been actively involved in the promotion of this sub-regional group in the past, I believe that air links are very much necessary to further develop the four countries, or their areas covered by the growth area.
The governments can push budget airlines to look into servicing routes between and among them. This will not only heighten the trade relations among the participants, but will even pave the way for them as a group to trade with bigger partners, like China or Japan.
This is also very important to the tourism sector, especially now that the the growth area is looking into promoting itself as one big destination to tourists, particularly Europeans who love to travel to different countries under one itinerary.
There is a need to massively promote successful partnerships or business ventures; initiatives and exchanges, cultural and educational linkages that are worth talking about. All of these must be brought out in the open so that the EAGA excitement will again be in everyone’s heart.
Joji Ilagan Bian is an advocate for the development of the region. She is chairperson of Joji Ilagan Foundation (www.jojiilagancareercenter.com), president of the Philippine Call Centers Alliance of and the Mindanao Tech Voc Schools Association, and Mindanao representative to the Export Development Council. Email comments jojibian2@yahoo.com.
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Add comment June 26th, 2008