by Lorie Ann A. Cascaro
The number of visitor arrivals in the country this year reached 3.3 million individuals, topped by the United States of America which shared 582,537 visitors, or 19.31 percent of the total volume in 2009 based on the AD Cards & Shipping Manifests.
This was bared by Ma. Corazon “Junjun” Jorda-Apo, head of Team North America of the Philippine department of tourism, during the Davao region tourism marketing conference and planning workshop on November 9-10 at the Apo View Hotel.
“Our core market consists of the US, Korea, China and Japan. If something happens to this market, malaking laglag sa ating arrivals (it will constitute a huge decline in the country’s number of arrivals),” Apo said.
East Asian countries contributed 51-55 percent of the foreign market, the US and Canada altogether shared 23 percent, while Europe 10 percent. The European market is considered an investment market, Apo said, “So, don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” addressing local tourism officers, tour operators and other business owners who were in attendance.
In 2009, after the US, Korea shared 16.5 percent, Japan 10.77% and China 5.14% of the total volume of arrivals. However, from January to July this year, Korea ranked first with a 19.93 percent share after having rebounded from the depreciation of its currency. Apo noted that the given data were not yet affected by the hostage-taking of Asian tourists in Manila last August 23.
Top destinations
Excluding Metro Manila, which is expected to have the highest number of arrivals as the main gateway to the country, Davao City ranks five among the top destinations, following Cebu, Boracay, Camarines Sur and Baguio City in that order. This was based on data from Department of Tourism (DOT) regional offices, local tourism offices and accommodation establishments.
Davao was in the top three last year, but Arturo P. Boncato, Jr., DOT 11 director, said that the government had based the report only on accredited establishments. Noting that there are only about 1,300 accredited establishments out of some 4,700 rooms in the city, Boncato added that accreditation was only optional for DOT before the implementation of Tourism Act of 2009.
“By next year, the DOT will be empowered to accredit all hotels and resorts. We will help them achieve global standards in order to invite people from all over the world,” he said.
Among the nine leading destinations for international tourists—Davao, Bohol, Boracay, Camarines Sur, Camiguin, Cebu, Baguio, Negros Oriental and Palawan—only Davao City did not have visitors from Australia and Germany.
Apo said that it is possible that some visitors came from these two countries but either very few or were not included in the list for unknown reasons.
Meanwhile, Davao has been identified as the “green destination” for Americans following the “green” trend in the US. This pertains to eco-friendly practices such as green weddings, and buildings like green hotels that are using recyclable materials and renewable energy. “Suppliers who deploy green practices are favored among acutely aware consumers,” Apo said.
Targeting balikbayans
The US has a total population of 310 million, and 61.4 million or 20 percent of them are outbound travelers, Apo said, adding that Americans are highly domestic travelers. The greatest challenge for Philippine tourism, according to her, is to aim for more visitors from the US, confident of the fact that in the last three years, only the Philippines did not suffer from a decline in arrivals among all Asian countries.
Without including the pure-blooded Americans, Chinese-Americans have the biggest population in the US, followed by Filipino-Americans (Fil-Am) with about 3.1 million. These Filipino-Americans are not overseas contract workers, but citizens of the US who are holders of “green cards.”
Hence, it is a challenge for Filipinos, especially Dabawenyos, to consider balikbayans (returning countrymen) as a target foreign market, Apo said. Fil-Ams have the highest household income of all Asian Americans in the US, she added, earning between 60 to 75,000 US dollars per annum.
“Filipino Americans also have the natural tendency to visit the Philippines. All we have to do is to assure them about their safety here,” Apo said. She also mentioned the difference of the Fil-Ams first and second generations. Those who belong in the first generation were born in the Philippines and migrated to the US, and they tend to come home and stay with their relatives.
Meanwhile, those in the second generation were born and raised in the US. Although they do not tend to come home because they do not even consider themselves as Filipinos, they tend to travel more upon reaching young adulthood stage, when they start to question their true identity.
Those born between 1940 and 1960 belong to the generation of “baby boomers.” These people are now in their retiring age. While they are not tied down by schedules, Apo noted, the baby boomers in the US have bigger disposable income and enough savings to pay for outbound travels for leisure.
They prefer luxurious accommodations and wellness or health care services, hence, making them as potential customers for hotels, resorts, and spa establishments in the country. “More educated than their parents, many of them don’t want to settle down in the US,” Apo added.
In aiming for American tourists, a certain destination or business establishment must have a website because aside from the fact that the internet was developed in the US, online booking has been prevalent there in the last five years, Apo said.
The Philippine department of tourism pioneered in using social networking sites and online advertising in targeting foreign tourists. These sites may include Yahoo, Google, and Youtube, which are cheaper than placing advertisements in international television channels.
