Trips to nearby hotels, resorts local tourists’ top choice during month-long travel fair
MANILA, Philippines — Short road trips to hotels and resorts near Metro Manila emerged as the top choice of domestic tourists during the month-long online travel sale of a hotel group.
The September Online Sale organized by Hotel Sales and Marketing Association Philippines showed the Filipino travelers’ hunger for travel after it sold 5,000 travel vouchers in a month.
The HSMA said its voucher sales ballooned by 194% and gross sales grew by almost 100% from P14.5 million in 2020 to this year’s P29.23 million.
HSMA president Benjie Jimenez said that judging by the success of the travel mart, it demonstrates Filipinos’ continued support for local travel and tourism.
HSMA recorded the majority of voucher buyers from Quezon City, Manila and Cebu.
It said that most of the travelers in Luzon plan to go on short road trips to hotels and resorts from the Batangas, Cavite, Tagaytay, and Laguna cluster. It sold the highest number of vouchers at 32%.
It was followed by Boracay or Iloilo at 23%; Manila/Pasay/Parañaque at 14%; and Clark/Bataan/Ilocos/Banaue, 12%.
A total of 9% of these tourists plan to visit Cebu/Bohol and five percent to Palawan/Davao.
Some 3% of travelers purchased vouchers from properties in Makati/BGC/Alabang and two percent from Ortigas/Pasig/Quezon City hotels.
Among the top grossers during the travel fair are HSMA member hotels Twin Lakes Tagaytay, Clark Marriott Hotel, Conrad Hotel Manila, Okada Manila and Acuaverde Beach Resort.
On the other hand, Martinez said five of their Top 20 bestselling properties are located in Boracay.
Eighty hotels and resorts across the country joined in this year’s SOS. They offered deals and discounts of up to 70% off.
Following the success of the month-long SOS, HSMA thanked all the hotel and resort member participants.
“Their compelling and creative promos attracted more buyers, and the overwhelming results inspire us to do even better in all the projects that we are planning for in the future,” Martinez said.
Last year, the hotel group only staged a two-week sale. It was extended to a month-long travel fair this year to help revive the COVID-19 pandemic-hit travel sector.
It seeks to help more than five million tourism workers whose jobs and income was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“By boosting domestic tourism income, we can be one of the main drivers of economic recovery,” Martinez said.
The SOS held from September 15 to October 15 was organized by the HSMA in partnership with the Department of Tourism, the Tourism Promotions Board, Atlantis, iSentia, and Cebu Pacific.
Meanwhile, the National Capital Region remains under Alert Level 3 until November 14.
Under this alert level, staycations are allowed at 100% operational capacity. However, only fully vaccinated guests shall be allowed to book their stay.
The DOT earlier said unvaccinated guests are required to present negative RT-PCR test results taken more than 48 hours before the check-in.
