Bangkok--Oct 28--eTurboNews
MANILA, Philippines (eTurboNews) - Taiwanese travelers visiting the Philippines has shown an increase of 28.5 percent compared to the same period last year, new figures released by Philippine Department of Tourism (PDOT) revealed.
PDOT said it is hoping to attract 2.5 million international visitors this year. Taiwanese tourists now rank as the Philippines' fourth biggest visitors after the US, Korea and Japan.
"The Philippines Department of Tourism and Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taipei mounted a confidence-building and market-responsive measures to assure the Taiwanese traveling public that the Philippines is safe from tsunami and is an ideal beach holiday destination," said MECO-Philippines Tourism spokesman Gerry Panga.
Following the tsunami killer waves in December 2004, tour groups were diverted to other Southeast Asian countries or offered alternative destinations to avoid massive cancellations.
In September, the Philippines recorded 11,000 Taiwanese arrivals, a month-on-month increase of more than 42 percent, the highest growth rate among the other destinations in this region. "Manila's tourism offensive is netting positive results," a Philippine tourist official said.
Product presentations and media briefings were conducted in Taiwan's major outbound travel hubs, in a pitch to tourism industry representatives and the media. Travel agents whose destinations were hit by the tsunami were invited to the Philippines for a series of inspection tours.
"We also launched marketing programs in the second quarter in line with the summer holidays," added Panga. "WoW Philippines summer and autumn tour specials with partner agents and airlines were also held these past few months.
"More tourism programs will be rolled out in the coming months."
A monthly online newsletter, WoW Philippines eNews, was sent out to more than 4,000 members in the travel industry in addition to a Chinese travel Website. Other high-profile programs include the WoW Philippines bus ads.
In 2004, a total 115,182 Taiwanese visited the Philippines, up 24 percent compared to the previous year. Philippine tourism officials are hoping to see a growth of up to 7 percent this year. Up to August this year, Taiwanese arrivals have already totaled 12, 598 visitors, up 28.5 percent compared to the same period last year.
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