In 2012, Indian arrivals to Philippines stood at 46,000. This year, the Philippines DoT is hoping to increase visitor arrival numbers from India to 66,000 tourists. In order to meet this target, the Department plans to educate the Indian travel trade on the varied offerings of Philippines. It is looking at launching Philippines Tour Specialist Programme in India. “Having seen the success of this programme in established markets like the USA and Japan, we plan to replicate the same in the Indian market. India might be the first emerging market to host the programme,” said Benito C Bengzon, Assistant Secretary, International Tourism Promotions, Department of Tourism, Philippines.
India is one of the top 15 markets for Philippines and Bengzo believes there is a lot of potential to up this position. “We are extremely enthusiastic about reaching out to new markets and segments in India. We have to be more focused and build up our presence in the Indian market. We want to connect with the Indian travel trade to generate demand for the Philippines. The Tour Specialist Programme will train the frontline staff in order to help them guide and assist travellers with the vast offerings of the Philippines,” Bengzon added.
He informed that the Philippines wants to position the country as a destination suitable for all age groups and travel segments, including MICE and Bollywood tourism. “We would like to position the Philippines as a destination for Film Tourism. We are also looking at tapping incentive groups, families and couples. We have better quality products and packages being offered to Indian travellers.”
According to him, connectivity between the two countries is a major hurdle in tourism exchange between the two countries. “At present, there are only three weekly flights between New Delhi and Manila via Bangkok. We are talking with several foreign carriers to connect the Philippines with India, including with other major cities in the sub-continent. Our strategy is to introduce additional flights to Manila and Cebu and convince new players to fly directly to resort islands. We want to create demand for our destination in order to fill existing flights and improve air connectivity.”
He believes that good air connectivity and easy visa procedures are vital for the progressive development of a tourism industry. “We are open to the idea of introducing visa on arrival facility to increase tourist arrivals from India. The introduction of visa on arrival in the Philippines is under discussion. We hope it will soon be implemented.”
Besides Mumbai and Delhi, the new markets that Philippines Tourism will tap are Chennai, Kolkata and Bengaluru. “The average spending capacity of people in these cities is considerably high and to tap that we will have regular roadshows in these cities. We will also reach out to other major tier-II cities,” said Bengzon.
