RP sites pushed as alternative to Hawaii

MANILA, Philippines - The government is promoting among Taiwanese tourists Boracay, Palawan, Cebu and Davao as an alternative to Hawaii, the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) said.

“The beauty of our beaches remains one of our major draws for Taiwanese. Many couples looking to get married abroad do so in Hawaii, but Philippine beaches can more than hold their own, especially when cost is factored in,” Ireneo Reyes, MECO director for tourism said.

Hawaii is the leading beach wedding tourism destination among Taiwanese citizens. The government is promoting Boracay, Palawan, Cebu, Davao, and other coastal areas in the Philippines.

To promote more travel to the country, MECO conducted product presentations in Kaohsiung, Taichung and Taipei from Oct. 26 to 29. and joined the Taipei International Travel Fair (TITF) held at the Taipei World Trade Center last Oct. 30-Nov. 2.

Reyes said Boracay tops the list of favorite destination among Taiwanese consumers followed by Cebu, Bohol, Palawan and Manila. The Taiwanese also showed interest in dive sites, golf and Filipino schools offering the English language program.

This year’s travel fair attracted a bigger delegation from the Philippines headed by Tourism Undersecretary Eduardo Jarque, Jr., with the participation of 17 private tourism establishments, including tour operators, and hotel and resort representatives from Manila, Boracay and Davao.

Reyes said the Philippine participation activities generated good business leads for more Taiwanese visits next year. Participants were able to get a total of 221 confirmed bookings for group tours and more than 800 queries were registered during the fair. 

Reyes said the newest addition to the various charter flights from Taiwan to the Philippines will be the Philippine Airlines’ Taipei-Kalibo route starting Dec. 9 using 150-seater A320 aircraft.

The country also hopes to attract more of the outbound market of Taichung which, with a population of 1.1 million, is Taiwan ’s third biggest city after Taipei and Kaohsiung. Taichung is the hub of the Central Taiwan Economic Development with an international airport and charter flights to Vietnam , Hong Kong and Korea , and transits 20 percent of the total outbound passengers from Taiwan.

Latest figures from Taiwan’s Ministry of Transportation showed that outbound travel from Taiwan in September 2009 dropped by five percent or 625,834 from 657,988 last year. From January to September this year, there was an eight percent drop in outbound travel or 5,448,114 from 6,590,261 travelers in the same period last year.

The drop in outbound travel from Taiwan affected many countries in Asia, including the Philippines where the decline was 14 percent or 77,126 from 90,104 last year.