Eastern Samar now less remote with direct flights from Clark and Cebu

Eastern Samar
Borongan Airport welcomes the test flight of Leading Edge Air Services Corporation’s new Clark-Borongan flight. (photo from FB page of Visit Eastern Samar)

A new flight service from Clark to Borongan will help to open up the remote province of Eastern Samar to tourism.

Announcing the new service today (Monday, October 22), Eastern Samar Governor Marcelo Ferdinand Picardal said: “This is an economic driver for Eastern Samar. We see this as a tool for local development, allowing us to be linked and connected to other provinces and regions because as of the moment we consider this province as isolated.”

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He added that the new service would be of particular assistance to the region’s burgeoning tourism industry.

Currently, tourists have to fly in to Tacloban, in Leyte, and them travel for at least four hours by road to reach Borongan.

A flight service from Cebu to Guiuan — on the very southern tip of Eastern Samar — has also been announced.

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Attractions of Eastern Samar

Visitor attractions in the province include Calicoan Island and Borongan City, which is renowned for its surf, the Minasangay island ecological park and resort in Balangkayan town and the Dinagkalan Beach Resort in Taft which is notable for its orange coloured beach sand.

The province has a number of pilgrimage sites popular with devotees such as the St Antonio de Padua Parish Church in Guiuan town.

Other notable destinations in the province are historical sites like the Homonhon Island, where Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan first landed in March 16, 1521; Tubabao Island in Guiuan where more 6,000 Russians lived for almost two years while waiting for asylum in other countries; the US Navy 3149 Base in Guiuan town; and the Balangiga Encounter Monument in Balangiga town.

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Based on the 2017 statistics of the Department of Tourism, Eastern Samar province welcomed some 78,422 tourists while Borongan City had a total of 57, 945 tourist arrivals.

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