By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo / Special to the BusinessMirror
THE Department of Tourism (DOT) is pursuing a more aggressive marketing campaign in South Korea, shifting to new targets and niche segments, as well as high-end tourists and repeat visitors.
This developed as the Philippines was this year’s featured destination in the Mode Tour Travel Mart, which was held from October 13 to 16 at the Seoul Trade Exhibition and Convention in Seoul, South Korea.
In a news statement, the DOT said the 20 Filipino companies that joined the international travel show booked sales amounting KRW590 million (P25.12 million). Among the top Philippine destinations chosen by Korean travelers were Cebu, Boracay, Palawan and Bohol.
“While it is reassuring to note that more than a million Koreans continue to flock the Philippines annually, new and complex outbound market segments and trends are also on the rise,” Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo said. “We are eager to stay ahead of the game by relentlessly pushing our country’s tourism industry to be responsive to the ever-changing demands of the Korean travel market,” she added.
In 2015 visitor arrivals from South Korea reached 1.34 million, up almost 14 percent from the previous year. From January to August 2016, Korean tourists grew to 828,911, accounting for 24.16 percent of the total arrivals for that period. The market has consistently topped the 1-million arrivals mark since 2012.
Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) Deputy Chief Operations Officer Maricon Ebron, who led a Philippine business delegation to Seoul, said Koreans are now becoming more sophisticated, and choose to pursue free and independent holidays instead of the usual package tours offered by most travel agencies.
“To retain strong growth for Korean arrivals in the future, we should diversify the market and develop new destinations. We have to create attractive programs and activities to lure the market,” she said during a Philippine reception for Philippine sellers and Korean buyers and travel agents held on October 12 at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul.
She also expressed confidence that the Philippines would exceed its target of 1.4-million Korean visitors by year-end, as more hotel rooms become available for tourists nationwide, while infrastructure and connectivity between local destinations are further improved.
She, likewise, assured tourism stakeholders of increased digital presence of the agencies—the TPB and the DOT—for its marketing campaigns, and will “expand trade and consumer activation in the country.” The TPB is the marketing arm of the DOT.
The 63-man business mission was composed of representatives from the government and from 42 private- sector companies covering the airlines, tour operators, and hotels and resorts that brought in new tour packages, travel services and facilities in the Philippines.
About 200 travel agents from Seoul and nine officials from the Korean government and other local companies exchanged ideas and proposed tour packages during the one-on-one meetings and business presentations.
For her part, DOT Assistant Secretary for Administration and Special Concerns Gwen Cads-Javier, also saw the increasing share of Koreans in the Philippine arrivals market. Heading a separate Philippine delegation to the Mode Travel Mart, she said: “We will be persistent in asserting our presence in this high-spending tourist market by participating in as many travel shows as possible, and even in local festivals in Korea, such as the recently concluded Multicultural Festival, where the Philippines prominently figured, and the forthcoming Lantern Festival in November.”
The Philippines has participated in the travel show in Seoul since its inception in 2014. This year, 20 Philippine companies joined the travel show and offered new tour packages, prime accommodations and destinations.
A pioneer in the wholesale travel business in Korea, Mode Tour has been engaging with top-quality travel wholesale industry for more than two decades already.
Mode Travel Mart draws some 65,000 visitors and books 9,000 guest reservations annually. According to the organizers, Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, shows the highest sales of tour packages, representing 12.5 percent of the total KRW8billion (P340.64 million) overall sales.