DAVAO CITY, 12 July — Amid the difficulties the Philippines is undergoing, the government remains optimistic the country is still an enticing place to visit.
Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon said his department is all set to pursue an aggressive promotion campaign, this
time targeting Spanish-speaking countries in Europe and South America to lead the group of tourists for Visit Philippines 2003.
Visit Philippines 2003 is a promotional program that has been endorsed by the World Tourism Organization through the efforts of Gordon and WTO Regional Representative for Asia and Pacific Dr. Harsh Varma.
“Since our budget is limited at the moment, we want to start early in promoting our country as a tourist destination not only for English-speaking tourists but also for the large Spanish-speaking communities in the world,” Gordon said.
The Philippines signed a bilateral tourism exchange agreement with Venezuela under the memorandum of understanding on tourism in 1999.
Gordon revealed the promotional campaign as he extended congratulatory messages to his tourism counterpart in Venezuela, which celebrated last week the 180th anniversary of its independence.
Gordon said the Philippines and Venezuela share a common Hispanic heritage since both were former colonies of Spain, which left its cultural imprint on both countries. Among the features of the memorandum are the establishment of uniform tourism standards and practices, the promotion of bilateral commercial tourism exchanges and the setting up of joint tourism promotion programs.
Gordon noted that most Filipinos no longer speak Spanish but he said tourists from Spanish-speaking countries in both Europe and South America would find little problem communicating since most local tour agencies can easily hire interpreters.
The tourism chief said the promotional program for Spanish-speaking tourists started with the projected establishment of the Barcelo group of companies of their Asia-Pacific office in Manila by October this year.
The Spanish group which now operates the Barcelo Pearl Farm in Davao is a major tour and travel agency that caters to the need of Spanish-speaking tourists. However, travel experts said the government should not only focus on the regular visitors.
Chona Cervantes, manager of the Luxury Travel, told Arab News other prospective countries are those in the Middle East.
Cervantes, who claimed to have traveled in Dubai, said Arabs are frequent travelers especially during summer time.
“If we can only ensure them safety while on tour, there’s no reason why nationals from the oil rich countries won’t visit here,” she said. She said she will suggest the inclusion of the Middle East countries in the next travel congress for the Visit Philippines 2003.
