A new air route will be opened between China's Macao Special Administrative Region and the city of Laoag in the Philippines as of July 19, Air Macao announced Monday.

This will be the second air route from Macao to the Philippines following the one to Manila, said Zhang Hongying, general manager of Air Macao.

He told Xinhua that the new route will cater to the demand of the increasing number of tourists from the Philippines to Macao. Statistics show that the number of visitors from the Philippines jumped 27 percent year on year in the first five months of this year, making it the largest foreign tourist source for Macao.

The Macao-Laoag flights will be operated every Thursday and Sunday night, with a travel time of only 80 minutes.

After the route becomes operational, Air Macao's network will cover 15 cities in Asia, including 149 regular flights each week.

(Xinhua 07/09/2001)