Indian tourists one of the most sought after

Interview with Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, secretary of tourism, Philippines
2022-05-23
/
/ New Delhi
After two years of closure, as Philippines reopened to vaccinated tourists, secretary of tourism Bernadette Romulo-Puyat tells India Outbound in an exclusive interview that she is looking towards a rapid revival of travellers from India, one of the fastest growing markets for her country.
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Bernadette Romulo-Puyat

Bernadette Romulo-Puyat

How is 2022 for tourism in the Philippines? Which markets look most promising?

For 2022, the Department of Tourism is looking at a gradual but steady recovery for many of our tourism destinations, primarily driven by the domestic market and backed by the foreign markets. We have finally reopened our international borders on February 10, 2022 to fully vaccinated travellers from visa-free countries, and we are happy to say that the turnout is looking positive for the Philippine tourism industry. From February 10 to March 8, we recorded a total of 73,178 tourist arrivals. We are currently the easiest place to visit now with quarantine-free travel and no test on arrival procedures.

Our inoculation rate is high with 95.63 pc of our tourism workers fully vaccinated. We are also facilitating the speedy roll-out of booster shots for an added layer of protection to our active tourism workers.

Our top markets may change depending on which countries are open to visit us, but so far we are seeing the revival of our top markets such as the US and Canada, South Korea, Australia, the UK and Japan, while we also getting a number of visitors from emerging markets such as Vietnam and Germany.

We are optimistic with the gradual influx of foreign tourists and we will continue to strengthen our domestic market. We have developed more than 70 tourism circuits that would highlight the best destinations and products of each region in the country, and provide a better travel experience for our tourists. These include food and culinary tourism, inter-regional tours, nature and wellness programmes, historical caravans, bike and motorcycle tourism, farm and agritourism, religious & faith-based tourism, and more.

The Philippines is also gearing to strengthen its position as a premier Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) destination, as we are set to host the 2021 World Travel & Tourism Council Global Summit on April 20-22. This is the largest annual gathering of tourism executives and key government representatives from all over the world, and we are looking into at least 600 people joining physically, and a global audience joining virtually. The event will be an avenue to showcase our world-class MICE facilities, our renowned hospitality and Filipino brand of service, and our ability to safely host hybrid events in the new normal.

Moreover, we will be staging the Philippine International Dive Expo (PHIDEX) in April which will mobilise industry experts, stakeholders and dive enthusiasts in one communal space to foster the collaboration of innovative ideas, sustainable solutions, and economic opportunities. The Diving and Marine Sports sector is one of the country’s most promising tourism product, and we are consistently doing as much as we can to make this sector achieve its full potential.

The global outlook on the recovery of the tourism industry remains uncertain, with experts from the World Tourism Organization, World Travel and Tourism Council, International Air Transport Association, and Pacific Asia Travel Association pointing towards a recovery period of around 2.5 to 4 years. Nevertheless, the Department of Tourism is facilitating all necessary recovery efforts to keep the current momentum and ensure a stable livelihood for our tourism workers and stakeholders.

Which are the key segments that you are targetting and within these segments, which source markets correspond the best?

The leisure market is on top of our targetted key market segments. While the Philippines is renowned for its pristine waters and white sand beaches that attracted travellers even before the pandemic, leisure tourists will now find exciting new offerings. For instance, our top beach destination, Boracay Island, now offers biking tours, food crawls, and wellness programmes.

Another target segment is the Business and MICE market, which will be furthered by the WTTC Global Summit. During the course of the summit, we will be highlighting our initiatives in revitalising the travel and tourism sector in the Philippines, and we hope to attract more business and MICE travellers with our wide array of potential investments and MICE venues.

In addition, students, adventure travellers, and scuba divers are among our key target segments.

The Philippines is an archipelago, with a multitude of destinations across its 16 regions and 7,641 islands

The Philippines is an archipelago, with a multitude of destinations across its 16 regions and 7,641 islands

Air connectivity is a challenge from India. How are you planning to overcome this?

The absence of direct flights never hindered travel between the Philippines and India, as we have seen the steady increase of arrivals from the latter. Currently, there are at least 10 flights from India to Manila, and negotiations are underway for direct flight operations soon.

What was the pre-pandemic position of India as a source market and how long before you can get back there?

India is one of our fastest growing markets, having shown consistency in registering a double-digit growth rate. For more than five years prior to the pandemic, Indian arrivals to the Philippines have been increasing, with a 15.96 pc average growth rate from 2016- 2019.

In 2019, India was ranked 11th top source market for the Philippines, and in 2020, it climbed to the 9th spot. Given this trend, it is safe to predict that India could possibly land in our top five markets in the next few years.

What is the potential of the Indian market and how do you plan to tap that?

Based on our statistics, most Indians are repeat visitors and stay in the Philippines for an average of 8 nights. They spend an average of USD 100 per person per day, with accommodation, food and shopping as the highest expenditure items. The purpose of visit usually includes holiday, business, and education.

About 78 pc of tourists from India stay in hotels. Their activities include shopping, sightseeing, beach holiday, visiting friends and relatives, investments, and diving. Moreover, their friends and business associates influence their choice of destinations.

Given India’s fast-growing economy, Indian tourists will be one of the most sought after travellers, especially the young population and the rising middle class. According to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, India is projected to reach record levels of 30 million outbound trips by 2025. With this, we have prepared a strategic marketing plan to tap the Indian market through our product-market expansion and brand development.

What are the USPs to help the Philippines build its position in India?

While there may be competition for tourists in 2022, we are confident that the Philippines will remain to be a top-of-mind tourism destination for Indians and other nationalities alike.

The Philippines is an archipelago, with a multitude of destinations across its 16 regions and 7,641 islands. The archipelagic nature of our country offers a diversity of landscapes for all types of travellers. Local food, anchored on culture and available culinary ingredients, has a different flavour from province to province.

But beyond the destinations, what makes our country “more fun” is our Filipino brand of warm hospitality and kind people. This draws in foreign tourists, and makes them feel that this is their second home.

Moreover, our country is brimming with diverse cultures, deep history, and flamboyant festivals all throughout the year. Tourists will surely never run out of things to do and places to visit. We are also a perfect destination for weddings, honeymoons, family recreation, films, and outdoor adventures.

To further encourage tourists to visit the Philippines, we shall highlight the “affordability” and the “accessibility” of our destination – promoting cost effective travel solutions like affordable packages and low-cost carriers. We can also highlight the sizeable Indian community in the Philippines. This can attract VFRs.

Which new niches are you projecting in India to boost travel?

Among the niche areas that we want to introduce is Regenerative Tourism. This is where we promote nature tourism that contributes to developing ecological restoration of our destinations, especially because Indian travellers are nature-lovers, too; and the restorative aspect of revitalising the well-being through our health and wellness products.

We are also promoting the Philippines as a romantic destination for the Indian market, since weddings are very important in the Indian tradition and are usually one of their longest celebrations with varying ceremonies.

Lastly, we are also developing our marine tourism, through the promotion of various water activities like surfing, diving, sailing, standup paddleboat, game fishing because Indian travellers are fond of water adventures, too. With the rebooting of economies and industries, we are also developing MICE since this will bring in the number of higher expenditures.

Since Indian travellers are fond of water adventures, Philippines plans to promote marine tourism too

What steps are you taking to promote the Philippines? How important is digital communication in this?

We never stopped promoting the Philippines, even during the pandemic, because we want to sustain our presence globally, so by the time our borders reopen, the Philippines will continue to be a top-of-mind destination to visit.

We launched two promotional campaigns throughout the pandemic, “Wake up in the Philippines in 2020 and “More Fun Awaits” in 2021.

Now that we have already reopened, we are promoting the Philippines through our “It’s More Fun with You” campaign to welcome foreign tourists whom our people and destinations have missed for nearly two years.

Promoting these campaigns digitally have really helped us target and engage our target audiences. This is especially important now when not everyone can travel yet and have to meet certain conditions before being allowed to travel.

Our digital strategy has allowed us better utilisation of our marketing budget, reaching the right audience, such as potential travellers, with right content and messaging.

Moreover, going digital has helped us in our advocacy for sustainable tourism. Booking platforms are also very important. We rely less on printed brochures and materials and have instead made our information available in our apps and other digital media platforms. We have also strengthened our brand by being visible in various social media and lifestyle platforms that have enabled us to communicate creatively with our target audience through various ways and content.

What was the volume of total tourism traffic in 2019 and what was India’s share?

In 2019, we recorded an all-time high foreign tourist arrival of 8.26 million, which translates to 2.51 trillion pesos in revenues. Of this number, India has a total market share of 1.63 pc, or 134,963 arrivals to the Philippines.

Are you planning any roadshows or any activities in India this year?

Yes, the Tourism Promotions Board of the Philippines is looking at Mumbai, Delhi, and Ahmedabad as the possible venues for our roadshows. Plans and strategies are currently being laid out, and stakeholder engagement is being developed.

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