Pricey travel to RP impedes British tourists from coming

The expensive cost of traveling from the United Kingdom to the Philippines has hampered British travelers from coming to Cebu, taking other Asian countries like Thailand as their preferred destination for leisure vacation.

"There aren't enough British going to the Philippines or Cebu for vacation, although some have considered the province [Cebu] as a good destination," said British Ambassador to the Philippines Peter Beckingham.

He said it's expensive to fly to the Philippines or Cebu because of the unavailability of direct flights from U.K. that is why Thailand and other Asian countries are still the favorite vacation destination for British nationals.

Annually, about 300,000 British tourists go to Thailand, while the Philippines is only attracting about 50,000 every year. He said this number can potentially grow if proper infrastructure like air transportation will be put in place.

Also, with a limited promotional budget, the Philippines has not prioritized putting marketing investments in U.K. market, including the huge European market.

While Malaysia, Thailand, and other Asian countries are spending huge money in order to attract the high-spender British market, as well as the entire of Europe.

"With limited budget for promotional and marketing campaigns, it's hard to lure British tourists to the Philippines. Although, I've talked with British travelers who happen to visit Cebu and they said they had a wonderful time here," Beckingham said stressing that difficult access and expensive cost of traveling to the Philippines or Cebu still post as one of the problems of British travelers from coming over.

The Philippine tourism department has now put all its promotional nerves in the priority markets, like Japan, Taiwan, Korea and China, putting promotional efforts in other potential countries like Europe and U.K. on the backseat.

"I've talked to Lucio Tan [Philippine Airlines] about this problem of a possible direct flight from Europe to tourism destinations in the Philippines like Cebu," he said.

In Cebu, only Qatar Airways has provided at least an easy access to the European traveling market, wherein direct flight from Cebu (stop-over Singapore) to Doha, Qatar is offered.

Earlier, Travel operator company Cormoramo, one of the largest travel makers in Italy said there is now a growing interest from the European market about the Philippines, specifically Cebu.

Last month, Cormoramo has brought in about 140 Italians to Cebu at Shangri-La's Mactan Island Resort, for a 10-day vacation package.

That was the first time since 1994 that the company brought in big Italian groups to the Philippines, said Cormoramo director general Giampaolo Wongher in an interview with The Freeman.

Because of magnified security problems in the Philippines in the last few years, Wongher said European traveling market, including Italians were hesitant to consider the Philippines as a preferred destination.

Today, after some European travelers found out that Cebu is far from security dangers, the province has slowly gained interest from this market.