MANILA -- Talks for the opening of direct flights between Switzerland and the Philippines are ongoing, a Swiss tourism official said Tuesday night.
"There are talks, definitely, and we are trying to have a direct connection but at the moment we don’t have something that we can announce as of yet. But we are in negotiation with different companies to see that we can use this potential of having a better connection," Ivan Breiter, director of Switzerland Tourism for Southeast Asia, told reporters during a media event hosted by the Swiss Embassy in Manila.
Breiter said the two countries are working on a memorandum of understanding to bolster its two-way tourism promotion.
"This would further increase the interest from both countries to visit each other," he said.
While there are no details on the negotiations, the visiting Swiss official confirmed that both local and international companies are involved in the negotiations.
Asked for a timeline, Breiter said, “It’s difficult to say. You don’t want to announce something before that actually happens."
A nonstop flight, he said, would benefit Switzerland and the Philippines as the two countries share synergies and differences that mix well for tourism promotion.
"I mean, you are a tropical country and the country that is in the Alps in Europe is rather a cold country and so this attracts very much," Breiter said. (PNA)
