TOURISM 2006: A CHALLENGING YEAR FOR NORTH PHILIPPINES
The regional tourism industry in the Central Luzon and the rest of the North Philippines will grow by leaps and bounds in 2006 due to the relentless effort of both the government and the private sector to pump-prime Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark as the international gateway to the island of Luzon and to the rest of the ASEAN countries.
This was the fearless announcement made by Regional Director Ronaldo Tiotuico of the Department of Tourism – Region III in a press statement issued recently.
Tiotuico said that flight operations in Clark under the strong leadership of its President Danilo Augusto Francia and GM Bienvenido Manga will increase at an unprecedented level with the entry of more low-cost carriers (LCCs) from major source destinations in major parts of the globe. At present, Clark airport has already gained prominence as the fastest growing airport in the country when it registered more than 132% growth rate in visitor arrivals in 2005 as compared to the previous year. In 2005, Clark airport was host to more than 20,000 visitors from countries like Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Kota Kinabalu and Hong Kong on a monthly basis. In 2006, it is expected to increase this figure to about 100,000 visitors per month as huge volumes of visitors make their way as transients to as far as the Hundred Islands in Alaminos, ecotourism sites in Cagayan Valley and Camp John Hay in Baguio in the north. Clark and Subic were previously identified as two of the more favored destinations for tourists traveling via Clark.
This forecast is anchored on the pronouncement made by Secretary Ace Durano in a meeting among tourism regional directors who strongly enjoined tourism practitioners and stakeholders including the regional offices to roll up their sleeves as the department is dead set to focus its hard-earned resources and logistics on mounting international marketing and promotional campaign in key source markets like China, Korea, Taiwan and Japan, among others. To give credence to that statement, Durano announced the availability of some P48 Million in promotions budget to be shared by and among all the regional offices of the department for 2006. The allocation will be funneled to such projects as production of regional brochures and flyers of international standards to be distributed in key target markets around the world, the hosting of fam trips for foreign travel agents and media groups in key destinations, including hosting of regional web sites.
Just to make certain that the hospitality industry remains focused on making our presence felt in the international travel community, Durano recently created marketing teams for key markets like China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan that would aggressively handle the marketing and promotion of Philippine destinations in an effort to boost travel to the country.
Meanwhile, providing assistance to such important functions like infrastructure development of certain destinations and festival promotions will remain as the priority program of the department with only the local governments co-sharing in the cost of development.
Tiotuico said that his office is now formalizing arrangement with the regions in the North Philippines – Ilocos, Cagayan Valley and Cordillera regions – to come up with common marketing tools to best promote the central and northern parts of the country to the key source markets while utilizing Clark airport as the international gateway. A regional brochure of international standard will be made available soon in the travel marketplace. The four regions in the north are expected to make their presence felt at the arrival terminal in Clark just to keep tourists better informed about places to see in key destinations outside Clark. New set of tour packages will be formulated to help visitors plan their own trips to Clark even before they come for a visit. Regional web sites will be designed and developed to enhance trip planning and decision-making.
For the travel industry in the North Philippines, a gargantuan challenge lies ahead!
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