Philippine targets more tourists from Turkey, Israel

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Tourism (DOT) wants to lure more tourists from two Eastern Mediterranean countries, in line with expanding its geographical market reach.

Tourism Undersecretary Benito Bengzon Jr. told reporters the DOT would continue to look for new geographic markets this year as it expands its footprint across the globe.

“Two markets that we will be focusing on very closely are Turkey and Israel,” Bengzon said.

The Philippines has witnessed a rise in the number of tourists from both Israel and Turkey last year.

From January to September 2017, a total of 12,948 visitors from Israel have arrived in the Philippines, 9.37 percent higher than the 11,839 visitors in the same period a year ago.

A total of 6,422 visitors from Turkey, meanwhile, came to the country in the same nine-month period, a 5.87 percent increase from 6,066 in the previous year.

Asked why the department is looking to focus on the two particular markets, Bengzon said it is mainly driven by the potential of the Philippines to be competitive in attracting more visitors from the two countries.

“We have to choose where we can be competitive. We cannot be everywhere. And in some cases, the competition is so fierce in other parts of the world that we’ll lose our plans even before we can get started,” Bengzon said.

Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo took part in the 23rd International Mediterranean Tourism Market (IMTM) held from Feb. 7 to 9, 2017  at the TLV Convention Center in Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel.

The IMTM is the largest annual professional tourism fair of its kind in the Eastern Mediterranean region attended by around 25,000 tourism and travel executives. It serves to promote inbound, domestic and outbound tourism, as well as to strengthen cooperation among tourism bodies in Israel and elsewhere in the world.

The DOT also took part in a productive bilateral meeting between the Philippine delegation and Israel Tourism Minister Yariv Levin where they discussed the possibility of hiring Filipinos in luxury hotels in Israel and  providing on-the-job training for Filipino students in this Middle East country.

Moreover, Teo also took part in the Tourism Ministerial Meeting during the World Tourism Forum in Istanbul, Turkey last year, where she signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Tourism Cooperation that will foster better tourism relations between the two countries.