The Philippines has started to reap the fruits of a series of sales blitz by the Department of Tourism (DoT) in key cities of China, particularly in Shanghai and Beijing, as Chinese arrivals to the country have reached a historical high, with current monthly levels reaching three times the usual.
In February, Chinese arrivals were up to 6,070 or 115 percent increase compared to the same period last year. Total arrivals continued to grow after the Chinese New Year Golden Week period, hitting 8,379 and 9,272 in March and April, respectively. This year, DoT is aiming a 200 percent increase or 70,000 Chinese tourists as compared to last year’s total of 39,581.
During the recent 2nd Beijing International Tourism Expo (BITE) DoT Secretary Joseph Ace Durano revealed that they are targeting to lift the total Chinese arrivals to the country above 360,000 by 2010. He added that the DoT is determined to make the Philippines one of the preferred choices for Chinese leisure travelers in Southeast Asia, especially since they opened a tourism office in the Philippine Embassy in Beijing last year.
Durano said that "although we are one of the earliest countries to get ‘Approved Destination Status’ (ADS), the Philippines has yet to capture the fair share of China’s outbound market. By 2003, we had merely 0.2 percent of the market, and Chinese arrivals ranked below source markets like Hong Kong. So, the DoT began an effort to develop a China marketing strategy in order to change that."
In order to be able to serve better than any destination, the DoT is focusing on three market segments of mid- to upmarket Chinese travelers: the Foreign Invested Enterprises (FIE) single white collar workers; FIE families with children; and the incentive group/corporate leisure travelers. Together, these groups represent close to 1.7 million international outbound travelers, take an average of 1.2 trips per year and spend approximately $2.1 billion on travel.
According to a research conducted by the DoT, these groups are highly interested in traveling to the Philippines with 53 percent of FIE young individuals likely to travel to the Philippines in the nearterm.
"We want to show our target travelers that the Philippines is full of wonderful surprises to suit any itinerary and that there are many activities within the Philippines’ major destinations that the Chinese will enjoy such as Manila, Cebu, Boracay, Palawan, Vigan, Laoag, Subic, Clark, Bohol and Davao," Durano said.
Aside from the DoT’s direct-to-consumer campaign, such as advertising the Philippine destinations on TV, newspapers, magazines, internet, billboards and LCD on the trains between Beijing and Shanghai, they also hired market representatives to extend the DoT’s capability in servicing both Chinese trade and media and at the same time, started programs for Chinese outbound travel agencies and media to learn more about Philippine tourism products. Familiarization trips are being organized, e-mail updates, regular sales calls, country seminars and participation in fairs are also being done.
In addition, talks with the Chinese government regarding the allocation of more air routes to the Philippines are ongoing, encouraging both the Chinese and Philippine air carriers to add more flights and frequency from China directly to Manila and to various resort destinations around the country.
Visa application has also been made easier with the waived requirement for personal appearances for group tour visas, "visa-upon-arrival" policy, and lower visa application fees.
"We have also invited the most reliable Philippine tour operators to reach out to their Chinese counterparts and to begin customizing products and packages for the cosmopolitan Chinese tastes. Likewise, our 5-star and 4-star hotels and resorts, long accustomed to American, European, Japanese and Korean travelers are now aligning their services, their staffing, their communications, and culinary offerings towards the needs and tastes of the cosmopolitan Chinese," he said.
With all these efforts in place, this early, the DoT is already predicting that China is on its way to becoming the fourth largest inbound visitor country to the Philippines by year-end, after USA, Korea and Japan. Whereas, in 2004, China did not even make it to the top 10.
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