The Philippines plans to ease visa restrictions and offer visas on arrival for Chinese and Indian nationals as a way to lure more travellers to its shores for leisure and business.
According to Benito C Bengzon Jr, assistant secretary of international tourism promotion for the Department of Tourism, the Philippines is seeing a growing number of visitors from China, making it the fourth largest inbound market for the archipelago, after South Korea, the US and Japan.
However, despite the seemingly strong demand, just over 200,000 visitors from China touched down in the Philippines between January and November last year, compared to more than 800,000 from Korea in the same period. And surprisingly, visitors from Asean destinations only account for nine percent of international arrivals in the Philippines. Both facts are symptomatic of several hindrances that the department hopes to eliminate in the coming years as part of its growth strategy. “We would like to focus here on Asean and the emerging markets of India and China,” said Bengzon, at the Asean Tourism Forum 2012, held in Manado.
One arm of the strategy involves overhauling the visa procedure. Currently, most nationalities can enter the Philippines visa-free for stays between seven to 21 days, but Indian and Chinese nationals are not among them. This will hopefully change “in the immediate short term,” explained Bengzon. An exact timetable has not been released.
Another focus of the tourism strategy involves enhancing connectivity. According to Bengzon, the reason that there are fewer visitors from regional Asean destinations is because of an inadequate connectivity network. “Air traffic is going to be a very important part of our tourism development strategy,” explained Benzon. “We are reaching out to the low-cost carriers, not just the ones in the Philippines but all the others in the region, to enhance connectivity which will boost numbers.” This will mean launching more new flights to key destinations, such as the previously reported Cebu Pacific flight to Xiamen, to be launched in March this year (see story here).
Furthermore, all major airports including Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Mactan-Cebu International Airport and Clark International Airport will be upgraded to meet higher service standards.
Part and parcel of the strategy is the newly launched, lively tourism campaign with the tagline “it’s more fun in the Philippines,” which highlights the different types of tourism that the country is promoting (view our editor’s reaction to the campaign here). The campaign emphasises nature-based tourism, cultural tourism, sun-and-beach vacations, shopping, leisure and entertainment, and MICE, explained Bengzon, all of which will hopefully appeal to regional travellers.
For more information, visit www.tourism.gov.ph
Alisha Haridasani
