Philippines eyes Indonesian tourists in efforts to boost foreign visits - The Jakarta Post - Jakarta Post

Posted: 23 Feb 2020 08:00 PM PST

The Philippines has set its sights on Indonesian travelers as part of the country's efforts to increase its foreign tourist arrivals this year.

Despite the two countries' geographical proximity, which can be covered by a four-hour flight, the number of Indonesian tourists visiting the Philippines remains relatively low compared to that of other countries such as China, South Korea, the United States and other ASEAN countries, according to the Philippines' Department of Tourism.

Indonesia ranked 14^th in the Philippines' foreign tourist visits, with 70,819 Indonesians visiting the Southeast Asian neighbor in 2019. The figure was also lower than the 76,000 booked in 2018. In contrast, 261,000 tourists from the Philippines visited Indonesia in 2019, a 20 percent increase from 217,000 in the year before.

Carla Zaldiva, the Philippines Department of Tourism's market development head for Indonesia, said the Philippines aims to welcome more than 80,000 Indonesian tourists in 2020.

"For this year, we want to be more aggressive in our marketing campaign," Zaldiva said on Thursday.

To introduce the Philippines to Indonesians, the Department of Tourism and travel agents will participate in Indonesian travel fairs such as the Astindo Travel Fair, which took place from Feb. 21 to 23 in Jakarta.

The growing middle-class segment in Indonesia and its growing desire to travel to nearby countries is seen as a huge potential that the Philippines needs to tap more, Carla said.

The Philippines wants to offer Indonesia its diving tourism outside of what Indonesians can find in their home country. Pilgrimage tourism is also something the Philippines can offer as a Catholic-majority country with many historical churches.

"Because the Catholic population in Indonesia is also one of the highest after the Muslim population, we want to tap a percentage of that [for pilgrimage tourism]," Carla said.

The Philippines is eyeing tourists from the working population, aged 35 to 40, the millennial market and family travelers.

"The reasons why we are promoting in Indonesia are because of its general population and there are a lot of similarities between the two countries. Statistics show that a lot of Indonesians visiting the Philippines are traveling for the first time [abroad]," she added.

"So, I think it is about the shared culture, the ability to communicate easily, the similarity in geography and it is about the feeling of you are still at home while in a different [environment]."

Carla said the biggest challenge of attracting more Indonesian to visit the Philippine was solely the cost of travel. The airfare from Indonesia to the Philippines is higher than from the Philippines to Indonesia.

"We are working on [exploring] discount deals for airfares and whole travel packages."

The Philippines Department of Tourism is working with airline operators to explore better promotional deals. It is also partnering with online travel agents and travel agent consortiums to come up with affordable vacation packages.

Caecilia Angela, the manager of Indonesian travel agency Sirius Tour, agreed that high travel costs made many Indonesians think twice about visiting the Philippines. Instead, they prefer to travel to cheaper Southeast Asian destinations, such as Bangkok, Singapore or Malaysia, she added.

"[Affordable] airfare is important. The average round-trip ticket to the Philippines currently costs Rp 4 million [US$291.10]. If that was Rp 2.5 million less, I'm sure a lot more Indonesians would be visiting the Philippines."

The connectivity between Indonesia and the Philippines has been improving in recent years. with several direct flights connecting the countries, including Manila-Jakarta, Denpasar-Manila, Denpasar-Cebu and Manado-Davao, served by flag carriers Garuda Indonesia and Philippines Airlines.

The latter will launch a Manado-Davao route on May 17, with three flights a week on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.

"Basically, this aims to drive tourism and business between the two countries and also connect the southern Philippines and eastern Indonesia," said Philippine Airlines area manager for Indonesia, Bryan Sansolis.

Agency takes descendants to family's hometowns in Lebanon - Brazil-Arab News Agency (ANBA)

Posted: 23 Feb 2020 02:00 AM PST

Isaura Daniel
isaura.daniel@anba.com.br

São Paulo – GoToBEY, a division of Líder Corporate Eventos & Lazer travel agency, will take tourists from Brazil to Lebanon in June and September. The itineraries include visits to their family's hometowns, local cuisine classes, walks on the beach, and leisure and shopping trips to Syria. GotoBEY is in São Paulo and "BEY" refers to Beirut, Lebanon's capital city.

One of the agency's owners, Marcos Destro, says that Lebanese descendants, even if they are the grandchildren or great-grandchildren of immigrants, feel a strong connection to Lebanon. "It's passed from generation to generation," he says. So, GoToBEY decided to offer packages that included a visit to their family's hometown. Even if the travelers don't keep in touch with their family members, the agency prepares an itinerary, drives and specifics.

The packages, though, aren't sold just for Lebanese descendants but anyone interested in visiting Lebanon going from Brazil. Destro says that the Brazilians that don't have family ties to the country and seek these trips usually have Lebanese descendant friends. "That talk about Lebanon non-stop," he jokes.

Another possibility is taking a Lebanese cooking class in a school in the country. You can choose between a Brazilian and a Lebanese chef as a teacher. They both teach in Portuguese, Destro says. GoToBEY also offers the possibility to visit the coastal city of Anfeh, which has a crystal-clear water and white sand, reminding of the Greek beaches, the agency reports.

Staying in the region five more days and visiting Damascus, Syria, is another alternative. It's just a 114-Km drive from the Lebanese capital to the Syrian capital. Destro says that the itinerary includes a visit to tourist and history landmarks, such as palaces, mosques and markets, and Damascus is also a good shopping destination. "It's very cheap," he says, explaining that the Lebanese themselves usually go to the neighbor country to shop thanks to the low prices.

Package travels to Lebanon in June and September last 11 days, with nine nights at hotels. The itinerary also includes famous tourist attractions of the country, such as visits to Jeita Grotto, Nahr al Kalb river valley, Beirut's market, Our Lady of Lebanon statue, Beiteddine Palace, Deir al-Qamar waterfalls, Baalbek temples, and others.

Each package will take 30 people. The businessman says that Lebanon's current situation hasn't affected the tourism motions in the country. Lebanon faces a delicate financial situation, with a newly formed government and a high unemployment rate. But tourism is an important source of income, Destro points out.

Besides Syria, the package to Lebanon also includes the possibility of a six-day trip to Jordan. GoToBEY also works with other Arab destinations, such as Tunisia and Egypt. The agency has a nine-nights travel scheduled to Tunisia and a four-nights to Malta in June, as well as 12-nights travels scheduled to Egypt in October.

Líder works in several tourism and travel fronts. The company is focused on corporate travels and acts as an umbrella company for Líder Eventos, Líder Lazer , GoToBey and EaíVamosPraOnde.com. In the corporate sector, the company traditionally offers business trips to Japan, and has now increased its number of trips to the Arab countries as well.

Líder Eventos works with the organization of events related to corporate trips, while Líder Lazer offers leisure trips to employees of companies the agency works with. EaíVamosPraOnde.com is an online platform to buy tickets and other travel services in partnership with Decolar.

Contact:

GoToBEY
Website
Email: reservas@GoToBEY.com

Translated by Guilherme Miranda

Diego Cupolo/Nur Photo/AFP