President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Tuesday formally unveiled the Philippines\u2019 first-ever transit tours and medical tourism lounge at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3.<\/p>\n
The transit tour allows foreign transit passengers from visa-free countries, with a minimum layover of at least eight hours in Manila, to explore Metro Manila\u2019s iconic cultural, historical, and leisure destinations.<\/p>\n
Tourists may choose between the two four-hour tour layover tour options \u2014a \u201cCultural and Heritage Experience\u201d featuring Intramuros and the National Museum, or a \u201cLeisure and Entertainment Experience\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of spending hours confined to the terminal, travelers now are given a chance to enjoy a thoughtfully curated glimpse of the Philippines, including its culture, heritage and people, or what we call experiential tourism,\u201d Marcos said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLayunin po nating iparamdam ang diwa at ganda ng Pilipinas kahit sa maikling panahon lamang (Our goal is to let them experience the beauty of the Philippines even in short period of time),\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Marcos said the tours are open to all transiting passengers of Philippine Airlines, those connecting to other carriers and landed travelers with onward domestic flights.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll these improvements benefit travelers, including families with children and the elderly, and of course, these changes were designed with our OFWs in mind,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In a separate interview, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said there are plans to further expand the program in other gateways, including in Cebu.<\/p>\n
In addition to introducing Manila landmarks to more tourists, Frasco anticipates the tours to create livelihood opportunities to local guides, tourism businesses, and transport providers.<\/p>\n
Bookings may be made via walk-in registration at the Transit Tour Concierge Desks located at NAIA Terminals 1 and 3, the Philippine Airlines website, and the mobile application accessed through lovephtourism.gov.ph.<\/p>\n
Based on the DOT data, more than 10,000 passengers transit through Philippine airports, totaling nearly 500,000, annually.<\/p>\n
Alongside the layover tours, Marcos inaugurated the Medical Tourism Concierge, which also functions as a Transit Tours desk inside the terminal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the launch of the medical tourism concierge area, we take another step towards people centered service,\u201d Marcos said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is designed to receive and assist patients with both efficiency and with compassion \u2014ensuring a smooth and dignified experience from arrival onward.”<\/p>\n
The area includes a well-designed reception counter from medical partners, as well as an enclosed consultation bed for the privacy of traveling patients.<\/p>\n
The lounge also provides a dedicated airport assistance to medical tourism patients and facilitate seamless transfers from the airport to their hospitals and clinics.<\/p>\n
The partner hospitals include The Medical City, St. Luke’s Medical Center, Asian Hospital and Medical Center, Makati Medical Center, Belo, Gan Advanced Osseointegration Center, Novodental, Urban Smiles, and Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center, among others.<\/p>\n
Medical tourism is one of the Philippines\u2019 many tourism products, and integrates health care and travel by highlighting the country\u2019s world-class medical expertise, hospitality, and holistic wellness offerings.<\/p>\n
Under this program, the Philippines also introduces patients to wellness and tourism experiences in DOT-accredited spa resorts and healing retreat places. (PNA)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The initiative supports the country\u2019s broader tourism and health tourism strategy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":261870,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-261869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-travel"],"zyndk8_nxtgen_metadata":{"nxtgen_comments":[{"6509":"good for ofw din to \ud83d\udc99\r","6510":"layover fun\r","6511":"mas sulit ang layover now \ud83d\ude0d\r","6512":"interesting concept to observe\r","6513":"could help airport experience overall\r"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}