Not only is V-12 boosting tourism and the country’s economy in general, but it is also benefiting its supporters in the private sector in particular.
This assessment surfaced at the second V-12 quarterly draw, an incentive event sponsored by Philippine Airlines to encourage more overseas Filipinos to join the program as tourism volunteers.
In her brief remarks before the draw, Tourism Undersecretary Evelyn Pantig revealed that 297 tourism volunteers had sent more than 879 foreign visitors to the Philippines using round-trip international PAL tickets.
This indicates how V-12 supporters like PAL and other business establishments are also benefiting from the program in terms of patronage.
"The reciprocal characteristic of V-12 makes it attractive to private sponsors and, consequently, less expensive to the government. It shows the brilliance of the idea and its proponent," said an overseas Filipino worker, referring to Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon.
Thus, in return, the national flag carrier showed its appreciation by giving away free international round-trip economy air tickets to the raffle winners, who had brought in at least three foreign guests each via PAL flights under the V-12 campaign.
The raffle winners were Renato Gonzales of Osaka, Japan; Genoveva Patana of Bangkok, Thailand; Alexander Paatan of Singapore; Consolacion Lammawin of Taipeh County, Taiwan; Teresita Reandino of Hong Kong; Juliana del Castillo of Los Angeles, California; Phil Abela of Vancouver, Canada; and Jose Crame of New South Wales, Australia.
Held early this month, the quarterly raffle was the second since last March when Gordon drew the names of the first batch of seven winners of this incentive program.
With the target of one tourist a month or 12 in a year, a V-12 volunteer gets entitled to a raffle coupon for every three foreign tourists he or she sends via PAL.
Nonetheless, the raffle is only one of several programs instituted by PAL to support tourism, according to the Philippine Convention and Visitors Corp. (PCVC), the DOT’s marketing arm.
PCVC deputy executive director Rosvi Gaetos said PAL was one of the first establishments to have immediately participated in V-12 and in another DOT program, "WOW Philippines."