Emirates has teamed up with the Philippine Tourism Board to educate the travel trade about its new flights to Clark and Cebu.

Scheduled to commence on 30 March, the new triangular route will operate daily from Dubai to Cebu, then onwards to Clark and back to Dubai. And ahead of the launch, Emirates hosted more than 75 travel industry members in Dubai to educate the trade about the new destinations.

“The circular Cebu and Clark routes will be the first new passenger destinations for Emirates in the 2016 calendar year and our preparations for the launch are currently in full swing. With a month to go we are ramping up our activities in our hub of Dubai and around our global network, in order to increase tourism flows in both directions,” said Khalid bel Jaflah, Emirates’ divisional vice president of commercial operations for the UAE & Oman.

Among those present at the event was the Philippine Ambassador to the UAE, HE Constancio R. Vingno Jr, Philippine Consul-General HE Paul R. Cortes, and the chair of the Philippine Business Council Dubai, Ms Marian Celeste Carella.

Last year, Emirates transported more than 550,000 passengers on its Dubai-Manila route, and the new Clark and Cebu services are expected to boost arrivals to the Philippines, strengthening the country’s ‘Visit the Philippines Again 2016’ campaign.

The new services will be operated using a two-class, 428-seat Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, potentially delivering almost 3,000 visitors to the Philippines each week.