PH Consulate General in HK Tours VIPs in Davao Via Inaugural Direct Flight

City Tour (clockwise from upper left): The delegation poses with representatives of the 11 different Lumad indigenous people and Moro tribes in Kadayawan Village during the first day of the 2018 Familiarization Tour to Davao City on 28-31 October 2018; The delegation takes a group photo with Davao City’s Public Safety and Security Command Police Superintendent Angel B. Sumagaysay; the delegation is welcomed by Mayor Inday Sara Duterte’s Chief of Staff Atty. Raul A. Nadela, Jr. at the City Hall of Davao; Atty. Raul A. Nadela Jr. receives a certificate and souvenir from Consul General Antonio A. Morales; the delegation poses for a group photo after the visit to the Davao City Hall. (Hong Kong PCG photos)

HONG KONG 07 November 2018 – As part of Cathay Dragon's inaugural Hong Kong-Davao flight, a four-day familiarization tour of Davao for members of the Hong Kong Consular Corps and business executives was conducted on 31 October 2018.

The tour was organized by the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong in coordination with the Department of Tourism (DOT), Marco Polo Davao, and Hong Kong-based private travel agency Planet Holiday, took the inaugural direct flight of Cathay Dragon to Davao. It is the first direct flight of its kind of any airline and the fifth Philippine city with direct air links to Hong Kong. 

The 14-member tour delegation was composed of consuls from Sri Lanka, Cote d'Ivoire, and Mozambique, among others, as well as members of the business community and their families. For most of the tour participants, it was their first time not only to Davao but also to Mindanao, the Philippines’ second biggest island.

“It’s a stroke of good fortune for the Consulate General that Cathay Dragon had scheduled the first inaugural flight to Davao at around the same time we wanted to put together this year’s familiarization tour to the Philippines,” Consul General to Hong Kong Antonio A. Morales explained how the Consulate General had decided on Davao City as its destination.

The itinerary featured a combination of popular tourist destinations in the city and surrounding areas as well as official meetings with city and provincial government agencies, businesses, and enterprises.

While there were 895,000 travelers visiting Hong Kong from the Philippines in 2017, there were only 112,000 travelers visiting the Philippines from Hong Kong during the same period.

The Davao familiarization tour was the sixth in a series organized by the Consulate General together with the DOT since 2015. END

Malagos Garden Resort (clockwise from upper left): The delegation members suman (sticky rice) and hot chocolate at the Malagos Café on the second day of the familiarization tour on 29 October 2018; The delegation tries their hand in making their own chocolate at the Chocolate Museum; Consul General Antonio A. Morales (foreground) and Attaché Charlene A. Beriana pours chocolate in their selected molds to make their own Malagos chocolate; A Malagos Garden Resort tour guide/facilitator prepares the filled-in molds for refrigeration; Delegation members inspect the drying area for cacao seeds at the Puentespina Farms. (Hong Kong PCG photos)

Samal Island (clockwise from upper left): The delegation members pose for a group photo on the tour boat they took for Samal Island hopping on 30 October 2018; Some of the delegation smile for the camera on board the tour boat; the delegation members take a break for a photo at the Sta. Ana Pier with Davao City security personnel before embarking on the Samal Island hopping. (Hong Kong PCG photos)

For more information, visit www.hongkongpcg.dfa.gov.ph or https://www.facebook.com/PHLinHK/.