TIM eMagazine Vol.4 Issue 2
Tourism Undersecretary
Benito Bengzon Jr. signs
the summary record of
discussion during the
1st Philippines-France
Joint Working Group
Meeting
Credits: tourism.gov.ph
Technology Corp. President and CEO and member of the Tourism Congress
of the Philippines Hubort d'Aboville.
"France is well aware of the huge potential of the Philippines' tourism
sector…Your beautiful and welcoming country can certainly attract many
more tourists beyond the well-known destinations in Southeast Asia. As
your slogan says, it's always more fun in the Philippines," Ambassador
Galey shared.
Among the agenda of the meeting covered were the destination
promotion efforts and best practices, investment opportunities, air route
connectivity and direct flight proposal, and the two-way tourism traffic.
"We have managed to attract almost 75,000 French tourists in 2018,
hopefully with better coordination and closer cooperation it can finally
reach 100,000," Undersecretary Bengzon added. A total of 74,389 French
tourists visited the Philippines last year with 22,219 arrivals already for the
first two months of 2019. This recorded a double-digit growth of 22.25%
against the same period in 2018.
Conversely, over 86,000,000 Filipinos visited France in 2017 mostly on
pilgrimage tours.
France is the country's thirteenth source market and is the top three
"We have managed to attract almost 75,000 French tourists in 2018, hopefully with
better coordination and closer cooperation it can finally reach 100,000," Undersecretary
Bengzon added. A total of 74,389 French tourists visited the Philippines last year with
22,219 arrivals already for the first two months of 2019. This recorded a double-digit
growth of 22.25% against the same period in 2018.
for Europe following the United Kingdom and Germany. As of February
this year, French tourists are also the ninth top spending tourist with PHP
896,158,004 expenditures or USD 17,171,049.
The DOT targets 114,264 French tourist arrivals by 2020.
In order to attract more French nationals, the DOT conducts product
and market research and development with training, webinars, e–learning
and incentive programs for the French market, trade development and
trade support via French travel agents familiarization trip, joint promotion
campaigns, business-to-business workshop with Philippine travel trade
and Central Europe roadshow, conduct of French media familiarization
tours, and participation at major trade and consumer fairs including
dive shows with the notable endorsement of French celebrity freediver
Guillaume Néry as the Freediving Ambassador of the Philippines.
The French delegation also toured Intramuros, Rizal Park, Cultural Center
of the Philippines, Fort Santiago, Manila Cathedral, San Agustin Church,
National Museum of Fine Arts, and the National Museum of Natural History
showcasing Manila's tourism products, park management, heritage
conservation, and deep religious culture of Filipinos.
http://tourism.
gov.ph/
Credits: tourism.gov.ph
"Your beautiful and welcoming country can certainly attract
many more tourists beyond the well-known destinations in
Southeast Asia. As your slogan says, it's always more fun
in the Philippines." - His Excellency Nicolas Galey, French
Ambassador to the Philippines and Micronesia
45