French envoy says Europeans have soft spot for ecotourism

CEBU, Philippines - French Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (FCCP) president Cyril Rocke said the Philippines needs to work harder in promoting ecotourism destinations if it wants to attract more European tourists, specifically French and Germans.

Rocke said the Philippines has the potential to attract French tourists if it strengthens its ecotourism by keeping destinations, such as the cities as well as the beaches, environment friendly.

“The main interest for French tourists is in ecotourism,” said Rocke adding that outdoor, nature adventure, such as whale-shark watching, diving, among others are all part of it, provided that the destinations display friendliness to the environment.

In a separate interview with German Embassy to the Philippines commercial counsellor Christof Wegner, he said that the Philippines continues to lag behind Thailand and Indonesia in attracting German tourists. However, if the country strengthens its marketing promotions in Germany and highlighting its ecotourism destinations, the Philippines will start luring in, not only the Germans, but a huge chunk of the European travelers market.

Clearly, Wegner said the issue on direct flight, or easy air access to bridge the Philippines and Germany is a major concern, but a good package of inter-linking the top destinations in the Philippines, highlighting the “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” tagline is surely an irresistible attraction for foreign tourists, like the adventurous Germans.

In January of this year, German arrivals to the Philippines only reached 6,389, based on the latest DOT record.

Like the French travelers, Germans are also most interested in ecotourism, adventure and outdoor activities, nature-related attractions.

Lack of proper promotion to these two European countries, France and Germany is one of the hindrances why the Philippines is not getting enough share of these high spenders and long staying European tourists.

French Ambassador to the Philippines Gille Garachon confirmed this observation, saying that “lack of knowledge” about the country is the reason why it lagged behind from other Asian tourism destinations, in terms of attracting European travelers.

Attraction wise, the Ambassador said the Philippines has great and diverse offering, however, it has to be promoted well, specifically in its drive to heighten the eco-tourism destinations all over the Philippines.

In 2012, record showed that there were only 30 thousand French who visited the Philippines. About an average of three million French travelers visit the Asian region every year. Top of the list is Thailand.

Earlier, the Department of Tourism (DOT) announced that the Philippines achieved 93.3 percent of its 4.6 million visitor arrival goal for 2012. However, some shortfalls were felt due to economic and political pressures from traditional markets such as US, Europe and China.

“It’s going to become increasingly challenging to meet future targets. But we know that Filipinos are the biggest believers of our slogan, ‘It’s more fun in the Philippines’. We remain confident and will continue to build on the positive energies in order to cross the five million milestone in 2013,” said DOT secretary Ramon Jimenez in an earlier pronouncement.

“The thrust of our marketing in 2013 is market development, which entails expanding the potential market for new users and new uses. We will look into segments that we have not thoroughly explored. We will explore more creative executions geared towards sustaining the fun we have started. We hope to have stronger representation and be part of the future of tourism in Asia,” added Jimenez. /JOB (FREEMAN)