DOT targets top tourism spenders

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Tourism (DOT) is targeting the world’s top 10 tourism spenders for this year’s forthcoming Philippine Travel Exchange (Phitex) being organized by its marketing arm Tourism Promotions Board (TPB).

Citing a report from the United Nations World Tourism Organization, TPB chief operating officer and Phitex 2013 commissioner general Domingo Ramon Enerio said the world’s top 10 sources of tourism revenues posted a whopping $519 billion in aggregate outbound expenditure in full-year 2012 alone.

The leading travel agents of those 10 countries are among the invitees to Phitex 2013, according to Enerio.

Those countries are also the world’s top sources of tourists in terms of volume, led by China with total 2012 outbound expenditure of $102 billion, followed by Germany with $83.8 billion, United States with $83.7 billion, United Kingdom with $52.3 billion, Russian Federation with $42.8 billion, France with $38.1 billion, Canada with $35.2 billion, Japan with $28.1 billion, Australia with $27.6 billion, and Italy with $26.2 billion.

Also targeted by the TPB for Phitex 2013 are Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, the Middle East, and the member-countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations.

“Simply put, we want to increase our market share as we see a continued rise in global tourism spend, hitting a new record in 2012 with a four-percent uptick to $1.075 trillion in real terms from $1.04 trillion in 2011 and involving a total volume of 1.035 billion tourists,” Enerio explained.

“So, to generate the quickest results, Phitex 2013 is being targeted at the world’s top sources of tourists in terms of both volume and revenue receipts,” Enerio added.

Those tourists are being serviced by their local travel agents, which are mostly big-volume wholesale buyers of tour packages from abroad.

“Those foreign travel agents or wholesale buyers are the ones who can market the Philippines directly to their clients in their respective countries, and so we are bringing them to Phitex 2013 precisely for that purpose,” Enerio pointed out, citing the benefits of tourism to farmers, fishers, drivers, weavers, porters, souvenir makers, retailers, hotel and restaurant workers, and practically all the other sectors of the economy from the grassroots up.

Slated at the SMX Convention Center Manila, the Phitex 2013 will be held on Sept. 4 to 6, with the Travel Exchange (Travex) as the centerpiece of the three-day event.

The Travex, scheduled on Sept. 5, is a full day of business transactions between the foreign buyers and the local sellers meeting on one-on-one scheduled appointments.

For the local sellers, educational seminars on the current international market situation are geared to help them adapt their product development efforts to global trends.

More information on the event can be obtained from the Phitex 2013 secretariat (tel: 5257320, 5259318 loc. 270, 240; fax: 5216165, 5253314; email: [email protected], [email protected]; or visit www.phitex.ph).