Philippines' tourism industry undeterred by recent setbacks

By Satish Gupta | eTN Asia
Unfazed by recent criticism related to the postponement of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, Philippines has categorically stated its tourism industry isn't going to be affected by such developments.

Despite negative travel advisories, Philippines is optimistic about meeting its projected 10 percent increase in national traffic of foreign arrivals.

This disclosure in the wake of the travel advisories issued by the US, United Kingdom,
 New Zealand and Australia against traveling to the Philippines due to a terror threat.

Department of Tourism regional director Patria Aurora Roa said the authorities are used to
 travel advisories, with such travel advisories warning citizens of particular countries from refraining to visit the Philippines being issued every year. Such statements follow the recent postponement of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit. It is being said that the Philippine National Police has remained on full alert in Cebu City and in Metro Manila in anticipation of the rallies to be staged by anti-Charter change groups.

However, the local authorities have categorically stated that there is no reason why the resetting of the ASEAN Summit to January of 2007 must be politicized. The terror threat has been named as the reason behind the Asean Summit's postponement to January next year but national organizers refuted this and stressed the major consideration was the physical safety of the Heads of States that were due to arrive the same time Typhoon Seniang would hit Cebu. "As far as I can remember, in all my 13 years of service here, I have never received any report from the hotel sector that their bookings have dropped even by 10 percent in spite of the travel advisories," Roa told media. Roa said there was an 18 percent increase of foreign tourist arrivals last year.

Hotels in Cebu are trying to lure back tourists who were not able to book rooms because of two Asian summits that were eventually postponed. Tourists, who usually visit the country during the Christmas holidays, failed to get accommodations due to the two summits in Cebu. The hotels will be losing millions of pesos in revenues because of the cancellation of bookings, and that hotels in partnership with the Department of Tourism are trying to attract the tourists with come-ons. They are also coordinating with the tourism offices in South Korea, Japan and China to help them in marketing the country, according to local media.

Roa told media that inspite of the travel advisories, there was no cancellation of bookings after the 15th where Koreans remain Cebu’s top market followed by the Japanese. Although Japanese tourists are easily disturb by travel advisories, Roa said there was no cancellation of chartered flights from Japan to Cebu after the summit.

December 13, 2006   Posted in: Philippines