Pinoys visiting Korea to grow 10%

MANILA, Philippines - The number of Filipinos travelling to Korea is expected to grow by 10 percent this year on the back of the country’s favorable economic conditions as well as the growing popularity of Korean pop culture.

Korea Tourism Organization director for Manila Sangyong Zhu said in an interview on the sidelines of Korea Night he expects more Filipinos to travel to Korea this year.

Last year, the number of Filipino travellers to Korea reached more than 400,000, up 20 percent from 2012.

“First factor to growth is the vigorous economy of the Philippines which is quite amazing…The middle class Philippine society is also now fast growing. That is the main factor why the number of Filipino travellers is growing,” Zhu said.

In particular, he noted that the corporate incentive tour market from the Philippines is expanding at a fast pace with demand coming from pharmaceutical, insurance and direct selling companies as well as banks.

To encourage agents to sell more products, companies send their top sellers or best dealers to Korea as an incentive.

“This is growing here in the Philippines and it is also due to the strong economy of the Philippines,” Zhu said.

He noted that Hallyu or Korean pop culture is also seen to help drive the growth as more Filipinos become interested in Korea’s culture as portrayed in Korean pop music and dramas.

“Kpop and Koreanovelas will reach a lot of potential for Philippine outbound travel,” he said.

The KTO’s promotion efforts are also seen to encourage more Filipinos to travel to Korea.

Apart from providing product updates to travel agents as well as participating in travel expos and other trade shows, the KTO has tapped actress Jessy Mendiola to serve as Honorary Ambassador of Korean Tourism in the Philippines to entice more Filipinos to visit Korea.