Vol. XXI, No. 223 [ BusinessWorld Online ]
Friday, June 13, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
THE GOVERNMENT is courting Japanese businessmen to invest in the country’s tourism sector.
In a statement, the Department of Tourism (DoT) said it will bring 67 businessmen on the 4th Philippine Business Mission (PBM) in Japan within this month. The delegation, com-posed of representatives from local tour operators, dive centers, hotels, resorts, spas, airlines, transportation services and prov-incial tourism offices, will make presentations on leisure, cultural and adventure destinations in the country aimed at attracting prospective investors.
"The annual selling road trip [sic] aims to strengthen the coun-try’s presence among the Japanese market, renew and establish new links, and look into new growth sectors for the industry," Tourism Secretary Joseph H. Durano said.
The Philippine delegation will visit Fukuoka, Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo.
"What makes this year exciting for Japan is that we are exploring more of the market in terms of geographical location, coupled with the launch of an ad campaign that reaches a wider demog-raphic [segment]. We also have new packages and destinations that we believe will grab their interest," Mr. Durano said.
The PBM program aims to give updates on the country’s tourism destinations, facilities, services and other vital travel data followed by a travel mart, which would allow Filipino participants to engage their Japanese counter-parts in one-on-one discussions on possible joint promotional activities.
Japan is currently the third largest source of travellers to the Philippines.
In a report, the DoT said tourist arrivals grew by 7.5% in January to April to 1.11 million from 1.03 million last year. For April alone, arrivals reached 253,869, up by 4.3% from 243,441 in 2007. Tourists spent $1.34 billion from January to April.
Americans accounted for 18.5% of the total or 47,013 arrivals, while 45,382 South Koreans visited the country, cornering a share of 17.9%.
Japanese tourists, meanwhile, totalled 29,295, followed by China with 13,845 and Australia with 9,904, data showed.
The Scandinavian market also contributed significant growth with 13.3% more Norwegians visiting the country, followed by the Irish with a 6.9% growth in tourist arrivals, the Swedish with 5.4%, and the Danish by 5.2%.
During the first four months, 11 cruise ships arrived with seven ships disembarking in Manila with a total of 8,197 visitors, while the remaining cruise liners made port calls in Subic, Cebu and Davao with total visitors of 1,321.
The Philippine tourism industry expects to earn at least $15.1 billion — or about P636.4 billion — and generate 3.54 million jobs this year. — B. S. Sto. Domingo
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