Japanese travel groups commit to bring in 500,000 tourists

NAGOYA, Japan – Japanese travel associations are responding positively to the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) aggressive marketing campaign, committing to bring in at least 500,000 Japanese tourists this year to various choice destinations in the Philippines.

"We have successfully convinced the Japanese travel agents and organizations that the Philippines would be a good place to visit, especially with all the unique attractions that we have," said DOT Secretary Joseph Ace Durano, who led the Philippine Business Mission contingent that sought to boost Japanese arrivals to the Philippines during a roadshow in Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo.

Durano and his team met with various Japanese travel and tourist-related organizations, including some of Japan’s biggest companies like Toyota Motors, to further drum up interest for the top tourists spots in the Philippines.

Durano noted that the commitment to bring in 500,000 Japanese tourists to the Philippines would be a considerable increase from last year’s arrivals that totaled 382,307. The aim is to further increase this to one million tourists by 2008 by improving arrivals by at least 25 percent until 2008.

As part of the DOT’s strategy, it is also wooing the corporate leisure market, targeting Japan’s largest companies.

Japan is one of the three priority markets of the DOT, aside from China and Korea, for attracting inbound visitors to the Philippines, as Japan is the country’s largest source of market for tourist arrivals next to the United States.

To capture a bigger share of the Japanese market, the DOT and its marketing arm, the Philippine Convention and Visitors Corp. (PCVC) led by its deputy executive director Rosvi C. Gaetos, are also implementing an integrated marketing plan that will not only focus on the traditionally male market, but will also tap the growing middle-aged female market, or those between 30 to 50 years old.

DOT also hired a Japanese public relations agency early this year to launch its "Premium Resort Islands" or "Koko Doko" which ensured wider exposure in Japanese print and television media.

The campaign locked in on Manila and Cebu as the gateway to similar resort cities such as Davao, Bohol and Palawan which are also rich in tourist attractions, and in Subic and Clark freeport zones.

As part of the marketing scheme, thousands of information materials were printed in Japanese, including a "Premium Philippines" website, also in Japanese language.

The DOT is also participating in the 2005 World Expo which is being hosted by Japan and has tied up with a major wholesaler in the Chubu area to launch two consumer promotions, the "Travel Holiday" promo and the "Win an Island" promo where lucky Japanese winners will have one island in One Hundred Islands in Alaminos, Pangasinan, named after them for a year.