The Philippines has witnessed a growth of 28 per cent in Indian tourist arrivals during January-February, 2017, compared to the same period last year. As per the official data released by the Department of Tourism (DOT), Philippines, more than 19,000 Indians visited the Philippines in the first two months of 2017 and as a result India has now jumped to the 11th rank among the top source markets for the island nation.
In 2016, more than 90,000 Indian tourists visited the Philippines and recorded 21.27 per cent of annual growth.
Speaking about the growth, SanJeet, Tourism Attaché, Philippines Tourism Marketing Office India, said, “Over the years, we have seen a steady growth in Indian tourists to the Philippines and are confident that this trend will continue. We are extremely delighted that the year 2017 is giving us a good start and our continued efforts in targeting the Indian holiday planners through aggressive marketing initiatives will yield even better results by the year end.”
In 2017, the DOT Philippines will be more focused on consumers as well as corporates to promote this beautiful archipelago as a Leisure, Luxury, Wedding and MICE destination. “We want to leverage on our tourism product offerings and attract the Indian traveller to soon achieve our target of 100,000 tourist arrivals to the Philippines,” added SanJeet.
The Indian travel trade partners credited continuous efforts made by the Philippines Tourism Marketing Office for the increase in visitor arrivals. Rajeev Kale, President and Country Head-Leisure Travel, MICE, Thomas Cook (India) said, “The Philippines offers India’s discerning individual travellers opportunities that are truly unique, like an opportunity to sight whale sharks–the ocean’s gentle giants or a traditional shrimp fishing expedition and a cook-out on the beach. At Thomas Cook India, having recently conducted a significant corporate group movement to the Philippines, we see strong potential not just for our leisure travellers, but equally for our corporate MICE and b-leisure segments.”
