After super-successful campaigns in South Korea and China, the Department of Tourism is wooing tourists from the hottest growth market yet – India, the world’s second most-populous nation (at 1.1 billion), with a market of over 83,000 millionaires and 27 billionaires on Forbes’ list of the world’s richest.
"India has as much growth potential as the South Korean market," says Tourism Secretary Joseph "Ace" Durano, 36. "Right now their outbound market is reaching 8 million, and this is growing 20 percent year in, year out. So in the medium term, they will even overtake Korea in terms of outbound. We’re looking at a market of 100 million in Delhi alone."
Durano led the first tourism sales mission to India last Nov. 21. By the time he left New Delhi three days later, special package tours were in place, and Indians had been introduced to choice Philippine attractions like Cebu, Boracay, Palawan, and Manila – destinations seemingly tailored to Indians’ love for shopping, entertainment, and nightlife.
Another reason the DOT has chosen to focus on India is that in US-dollar terms, the country is now producing the most number of millionaires. "By being here (in India), you realize that with such purchasing capacity, there’s nowhere for that money to go," observes Durano. "Because the consumer market here is not developed yet. It’s just starting to open."
One example that illustrates his point is luxury automaker Porsche, which recently opened its first dealership in India. Even if India’s roads are as likely to be clogged by sacred cows as by slick cars, how could it not, when the number of millionaires rose 37 percent in the past two years, spurring luxury car sales of both Porsche and Ferrari.
"The quota for Ferrari – they cannot meet the demand," notes Durano.
Indian Finance Ministry figures bear him out, showing that the Indian economy grew 9.1 percent in the six months ending Sept. 30, the fastest semi-annual pace in 15 years.
So even if the Philippines is considered a latecomer to the game, relative to destinations Indians traditionally favor like Singapore and Malaysia, better late than never.To test the waters, last July, the DOT and Cathay Pacific Airways hosted 15 Indian tour operators from New Delhi and Mumbai to a familiarization tour of Manila, Cebu, and Bohol to get their input on what the Philippines had to offer.What they found was very encouraging.
"The Philippines has a market. Indians want to travel over there," says SanJeet of Buzz Travel Marketing, whom the DOT hired to direct the Philippine Tourism Marketing Office in India thanks to his 20-year track record in the industry and success in marketing countries like Macau. "Until now, a lot of Indians did not know what there was to see and do.