Italian Ambassador to the Philippines Marco Clemente advocates for a direct aerial pathway from Milan or Rome to Manila to bridge the gap and unlock new opportunities for tourism and investment by defying distance constraints.

Clemente, who described the gap as a “tyranny of distance,” said direct flights would encourage more Italian tourists to visit the country and entice more foreign investors.

“There is a lot of space for (economic and trade relations) improvement. It’s the tyranny of distance working here. I think, unfortunately, for Italian businesses, the distance could be a problem, and most importantly, the fact that we do not have a direct flight — this may be the first step to be taken,” said Ambassador Clemente in an interview on DAILY TRIBUNE’s digital show Straight Talk on Wednesday.

He said if there were direct flights — Milan to Manila and Rome to Manila — “I am sure that it would have a very beneficial effect on our economic and trade relationship.”

He lamented that Italian entrepreneurs who want to penetrate the Asian market usually make stopovers in Singapore or Malaysia.

“This might be one of the reasons you don’t see as many economic operators in the Philippines as you would expect from Italy. The Philippines is a perfect destination for Italian investments because there is no language barrier, as Filipinos speak English perfectly. It’s a Catholic country, a common value for Italians, and another reason the Philippines is very attractive to Italian businesses. But the numbers (of Italian businesses) right now are not what I expect them to be, which keeps me wondering in the two years I’ve been here,” he said.

Based on embassy records, Clemente said only 70 Italian families live in the country, either running businesses or with Filipino wives.

However, he said that close to 200,000 Filipinos reside and work in Italy.

“Filipinos love Italy. Aside from tourist visa applications, we have very important seafarer applicants because many Filipinos work on Italian cruise ships. Judging from the number of visas that we grant, the demand for Italy is there. If there is a direct flight, then many Filipinos would love to go to Italy instead of France or Spain,” he said.

Ambassador Clemente said that to entice more Italian tourists and investors, the Embassy of Italy to the Philippines and its Milan counterpart are doing their best to promote the Philippines to Italian business owners by organizing business forums and trade fairs.

In 2023, more than 22,000 Italians visited the Philippines, based on the Department of Tourism records.

Philippine Airlines Vice President for Sales Bud Britanico last month said the flag carrier is contemplating adding flights to Europe but this would depend on aircraft availability.

He said they are currently studying the addition of more flights, especially to those countries with a significant number of Filipinos, particularly in the Schengen areas such as Italy and France.

Earlier, PAL announced that it had firmed up the purchase of nine brand-new Airbus A350-1000 long-haul aircraft for its signature routes to North America and potentially to Europe.

The 380-seater new-generation jets, to be delivered starting in 2025, will be the most advanced jets to fly the Philippine skies.