Tourism volunteer program benefiting supporters, others

It’s a win-win situation for the Department of Tourism’s Volunteer 12 (V-12) program, which seeks to mobilize overseas Filipinos in promoting the Philippines to foreign tourists.

Not only is V-12 boosting tourism and the country’s economy in general, but is also benefiting its supporters in the private sector in particular.

This assessment surfaced at the second V-12 quarterly draw, an incentive event sponsored by Philippine Airlines to encourage more overseas Filipinos to join the program as tourism volunteers.

In her brief remarks before the draw, DoT Undersecretary Evelyn Pantig revealed that 297 tourism volunteers sent more than 879 foreign visitors to the Philippines using roundtrip international PAL tickets.

This indicates how V-12 supporters like PAL, and other business establishments are also benefiting from the terms of patronage.

“The reciprocal characteristic of V-12 makes it attractive to private sponsors and, consequently, less expensive to the government. It shows the brilliance of the idea and its proponent,” said an overseas Filipino worker referring to Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon.

Thus, in return, the national flag carrier showed its appreciation by giving away free international round-trip economy air tickets to the raffle winners, who brought in at least three foreign guests via PAL flights under the V-12 campaign.

The raffle winners are Renato N. Gonzales of Osaka, Japan; Genovena D. Patana of Bangkok, Thailand; Alexander P. Paatan of Singapore; Consolacion M. Lammawin of Taipei County, Taiwan; Teresita Reandino of Hong Kong; Juliana M. del Castillo of Los Angeles California; Phil D. Abela of Vancouver, Canada; and Jose Crame of New South Wales, Australia.

Held early this month, the quarterly raffle was the second since last March when Gordon drew the names of the first batch of seven winners of this incentive program.

With the target of one tourist a month or 12 in a year, a V-12 volunteer gets a raffle coupon for every three foreign tourists he sends via PAL.

Nonetheless, the raffle is only one of several programs instituted by PAL to support tourism, according to the Philippine Convention and Visitors Corporation (PCVC), the marketing arm of the DoT.

PCVC deputy executive director Rosvi Gaetos said PAL was among the first establishment to immediately participate in V-12 and another DoT program “Wow Philippines.”