Stimulus for tourism

Published on Sun.Star Network Online (http://www.sunstar.com.ph)
by Debra Magallon-Estero

THE Department of Tourism (DOT) will roll out a “stimulus-like” package to encourage chosen markets to travel and spend in the Philippines despite the weakening of many economies worldwide.

However, Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano clarified this is “not a dole-out” from the government but rather “a support to the industry.”

The stimulus plan will come in the form of competitive tour packages to different target markets like Japan.

The number of Japanese tourists coming to the Philippines decreased last year.

Under the plan, Durano said, the DOT will work with volunteer airlines to offer discounted rates for Tokyo-Manila and Tokyo-Cebu routes.

Promo

Flight rates, which is planned to be slashed by 50 percent, will be offered to the market in the next three months starting February.

Instead of refunding airlines the price difference incurred by the discounts, the DOT will implement programs promoting the flights, said Durano.

The DOT chief is optimistic that the country will be at the forefront when the market bounces back.

“(Before), the number one constraint (of the industry) was capacity. Starting this year and in the next two years, new capacities will open up and we will achieve another growth spurt,” he told members of the media last Friday.

Durano was the guest of honor at the Imperial Palace Waterpark Resort and Spa after the establishment officially announced its being declared an economic tourism zone.

Capacity
Durano said that most of the tourism facilities that open in the next two years came between 2005 and 2006, like the Imperial Palace.

Citing the results of a DOT-commissioned study, Durano said the Philippines has the capacity to accommodate both the domestic and international travelers in the next two years.

The DOT has commissioned the Center for Research and Communications to compute the country’s tourist capacity, including present and future air seats.

“(But) there will be no excess capacity. (At present) hotel rates are not decreasing (their prices) and that means the demand is high,” he said.

By 2012, the DOT targets five million tourist arrivals in the Philippines.

In the meantime, Durano said revenues for the next three years will come from high-value products like scuba diving, ESL(English as second language) courses and medical tourism.

“Tourists (who get) these (products) are recession-proof markets,” he said. (DME)

Source URL: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/stimulus-tourism