The Philippine Embassy in the capital city of Riyadh announced on Saturday the launching of the ‘Visit Philippines 2015’ campaign by the Department of Tourism (DoT).

“This bodes well as far as Philippine tourism is concerned; since 2009, there has been an uptrend among Saudi tourists in visiting the Philippines,” the embassy said in a statement issued on Saturday.

The campaign had earlier been launched by DoT Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez. Jr. during the 13th Philippine Travel Exchange (PHITEX) held at the SMX Convention Center in the Philippines late last year.

A video advertisement, entitled “15 Ways to have fun in the Philippines,” was shown highlighting the different themes of the campaign such as business meetings, sports adventure and eco-tourism, history and culture, lifestyle, entertainment, music and the arts.

The embassy said that the Philippines had started making ground in the Saudi tourism market based on the official statistics released by the DoT.

The Philippines had just 19,101 tourists from the Kingdom in 2009, but the number has since grown to 38,969 in 2013, a rapid increase of 104 percent.

The 2013 growth was nearly 29.7 percent higher than the previous year, while the average growth of visitor arrivals since 2009 has been at 19.8 percent.

The consistent increase has been helped by the embassy’s tourism promotion activities in the Kingdom, in partnership with Saudi travel agencies accredited with the DoT.

In April 2013, the Philippine Embassy and the DoT participated in the Riyadh Travel Fair. During the event, the Philippines drew 998 visitors, with many inquiring about holiday packages to prime destinations like Boracay, Palawan, Bohol’s Chocolate Hills and Panglao Island and Davao’s Pearl Farm.

In December 2013, DoT representatives came to the Kingdom to formally launch the Philippine tourism in Riyadh. The event was attended by tourism officials from the Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry and tour operators.