BOLINAO, Pangasinan: The tourism industry of this picturesque town in the west coast of Luzon is “excited” about the recent announcement of Pangasinan Gov. Ramon Guico 3rd that an airport will soon rise here.

“It will mean more tourists will be coming to this town,” said Ronnie Torres, vice president of the Bolinao Business Tourism Association (BBToA), in an interview over the weekend.

BBToA is a group composed of about 150 owners of restaurants, resorts, hotels, transient houses, and other tourism-related establishments in this town.

Guico earlier told reporters that the provincial government has allocated P800 million for the first phase of the Bolinao airport project.

Guico said the land acquisition for the airport project, a first for the province, is now at 70 percent.

The governor, however, declined to give specifics on the location of the airport so as not to compromise the ongoing land acquisition.

Once operational after two years, Guico said, the airport’s 1,500-meter runway can accommodate the landing of Airbus A320 airplanes that can carry 150 to 180 passengers.

”The runway will be finished by next year and by 2025, the airport is operational,” the governor said.

Last month, Guico signed a P4.2-billion sub-loan agreement with the Land Bank of the Philippines to finance various projects by the provincial government, including the acquisition of support facilities for the establishment of the Bolinao airport.

Torres said that while the airport is being constructed, the tourism stakeholders of Bolinao will have to prepare for the expected influx of tourists.

“We still have a lot of things to do. We have to improve the carrying capacity of our sites to decongest tourist traffic,” Torres said.

Torres cited as an example the Patar Beach, which, he said, is one of the favorite spots for tourists in Bolinao.

“We have to develop more tourism sites to accommodate more tourists,” Torres said.

Aside from the Patar Beach, tourists also love to visit the Balingasay River, Bolinao Falls, the 118-yearold Cape Bolinao lighthouse, its caves, the 17th century St. James the Great Parish Church, and the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institutes’s giant clams sea nursery located in a shallow reef off Silaki Island.

Last week, Guico said he was considering having a regular commercial seaplane flight from Metro Manila to visit the Hundred Islands National park in Alaminos City.

“We’re thinking of ways to connect the province to the central business district in Metro Manila while we do not yet have an airport in Bolinao and Alaminos,” said Guico.

He said that a good sea plane route would be from Manila Bay to Pangasinan, landing in Bolinao and Hundred Islands.

“These flights will be good for our tourism and people’s daily commute, especially those who have to go back and forth from Pangasinan to Manila,” Guico said.

“It’s just 40 minutes, so it will save you a lot of time,” he added.

A seaplane can accommodate 8 to 10 passengers.

“We are now trying to convince the operator,” Guico said.

Guico and his father, Pangasinan 5th District Rep. Ramon Guico Jr., and Pangasinan 1st District Rep. Arthur Celeste took a test flight from Lingayen to Alaminos and from Alaminos to Bolinao.

“The test flight was successful. There are initial hurdles, of course,” said Guico, who is also a pilot.

He said sea condition is one of the primary considerations in operating an amphibious plane.