Tourism sector explores ways to regain the Japanese market

In its bid to recapture the huge Japanese tourists market, a group of tourism stakeholders from Cebu joined a sales mission to Japan and Korea organized by the Department of Tourism (DOT).

DOT-7 regional director Patria Aurora Roa said in order to lure more Japanese tourists to Cebu, it has to build another five-star resort and an additional of at least 1,000 to 2,000 rooms in Mactan Island alone.

"They [Japanese] need one more Shangri-La, they need shopping facility that has wide choices of signature goods. Our Duty Free here has limited stocks," Roa said.

According to Roa, vacation and shopping go together, Cebu which is positioned as high-end destination, shopping should have wide choices, shops offering renowned international or signature should be present here.

This is what have been learned from the eight-day sales mission initiated by DOT led by secretary Joseph Ace Durano last May 21 to May 28 this year.

Some 13 tourism-related establishments in Cebu, including representatives from the government, joined the Philippine Business Mission to Japan, in an effort to recover huge Japanese travelers to Cebu, and Central Visayas region.

"We want to get more of them [Japanese tourists] because they are good and high spenders and is good for the tourism industry not only in Cebu, but in the entire Central Visayas region," Roa said.

Although there are occasional charters from Japan to Cebu, Roa and a regular direct flight from Narita to Cebu, Roa said Japanese are still demanding increased frequency.

"They have many demands, and we can't provide them overnight. We have to seriously take note of these weaknesses," Roa said.

From January to February this year, Japanese arrivals to the region improved (only) by 4.93 percent, compared to Korean arrivals, which recorded an increase of 37.87 percent, versus the same period last year.

For the first two months of 2006, there were only a total of 22,715 Japanese visited the region, while there were 27,483 Koreans arrived to Cebu, and went to different areas in Central Visayas.

In a presentation hosted by the Philippine Convention and Visitors Corporation (PCVC) of the Department of Tourism (DOT) on the Philippine Tourism Marketing Strategy in Japan recently, senior consultant Colin Marson said that the main reason why some Japanese travelers chose to go to other destinations like Phuket, Bali and Guam, because these countries have invested so much in their marketing promotions to the Japanese market.

The Philippines specifically Cebu still has a lot of "homework" to do if it wants to re-capture a sizeable number of Japanese tourists to visit to the country, he strongly suggested.

Among other factors that must be improved by tourism players in order to recover the big Japanese travelers, is infrastructure like air and land transportation, accommodations, well organized tour, attraction, and shopping packages.