DOT chief woos Chinese tourists

Tourism Secretary Roberto M. Pagdanganan has unveiled a three-pronged program to woo tourists from China which is "a fast-growing outbound tourist market with its GDP per capita of $4,690 and annual leave entitlement of 14 days."

Pagdanganan, in a briefing at the Edsa Shangri-La Tuesday Club, said the tourism marketing plan for the Philippines involves the conduct of sales missions in Beijing and Shanghai, participation in Chinese travel fairs and positioning the country as a "preferred destination" for Chinese tourists.

Citing that tourism is a marketing game, the DOT chief said that promotional videos and CD-ROMs in Mandarin have been prepared while Mandarin-speaking professional tour guides and airport receptionists have been tapped to woo Chinese tourists.

Earlier, the DOT opened its new office at the Philippine Embassy in Beijing last July 21 to market the Philippines. The DOT has in fact partnered with tour wholesalers from China in targeting three of China’s major business centers — Beijing, Shanghai and Guandong.

The Beijing office is preparing the groundwork for the needs of a market that stands to become the largest source of outbound tourists by 2020, Pagdanganan said, adding that studies made by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) showed that Chinese outbound tourists could skyrocket to 130 million on the next 16 years.

"China has become the seventh largest tourism spender in the world. It is then only logical that we formally open our doors to Chinese nationals if we are to become truly competitive in this highly contested market," he said.

Since 1993, the Philippines has been one of the few destinations that the Chinese government has accorded an "Approved Destination Status (ADS). That list has now ballooned to 29 destinations, including 12 European nations, as of last year."

Pagdanganan, a former marketing chief of Unilever, also said that the boom in tourism in the country would translate to more jobs as studies indicate that one tourist creates one job. The DOT is bidding to hit a record 2.5 million tourist arrivals this year to top the 1997 level of 2.2 million. — L. Gagni