Globe renews TPB partnership

MANILA, Philippines – Globe Telecom Inc. has renewed its partnership with the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) to help make the Philippines a top tourist destination in Asia as it looks to grow its subscriber base and revenues.

Under the partnership, Globe will once again offer its Globe Traveler SIM card to tourists and returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) for free to support the TPB’s Visit the Philippines Again 2016 campaign.

The Globe Traveler SIM is a prepaid SIM card which allows users to receive and make calls and avail of mobile data services at affordable rates.

By subscribing to TravelSurf, users can surf the Internet on mobile at an affordable rate of $11 for seven days or $23 for 30 days. Users can also call abroad for as low as $0.40 per minute.

To get the Traveler SIM card for free, tourists and OFWs will need to present their passport of OFW E-Card at the Globe booths in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, as well as airports in Cebu, Davao, Kalibo, Iloilo, and Clark or reserve via www.globe.com.ph/traveler-sim/reserve-now.

Nikko Acosta, senior vice president for International Business Group at Globe told reporters the continued partnership with TPB is expected to help grow the telco’s subscriber base and revenues given the positive outlook on the Philippine tourism industry.

Acosta  said the telco expects to see an increase in the number of Traveler SIM subscribers and revenues.

He said Globe had a total of 80,000 Traveler SIM subscribers last year and the goal is “to double that by end of the year.”

Globe would also want to see growth this year in the P220 million worth of revenues generated from the voice, SMS and data usage of Traveler SIM subscribers last year.

Data on Globe Traveler SIM card usage from August to November 2015 showed that 90 percent of the SIM users came to the Philippines for vacation, with Korea, China and Singapore as the top three sources of visitors.

The same data also showed that 97 percent of Traveler SIM customer base used data and 85 percent used local calls.

TPB chief operating officer Domingo Ramon Enerio III said this year is expected to be another competitive year for Philippine tourism given the aggressive promotion efforts.

A total of 5.36 million foreign tourists visited the Philippines last year, up10.91 percent from 4.83 million in 2014.

“We can easily breach six million tourist arrivals by end-2016...due to increased awareness and increased communications capability that the Philippines deserves a visit not just once but over and over again,” he said.