Land of adventure and casinos

TOURISM: The Philippines may just turn out to be next tourism favourite with Indians.

For the pool watching fraternity in India, the Philippines is sure to have left an impression at the World Pool Championship 2006 held in Manila earlier this month. The "I am Manila" ad in between the frames was definitely entertaining.

Almost all major South-east Asian destinations have recognised the Indian outbound's potential and have been marketing their product in India. The Philippines is the latest to join the bandwagon.

The Philippines tourism secretary, Joseph H Durano, is here with the first-ever Philippines Tourism sales mission to India. They have also appointed Buzz Travel Marketing as their marketing representative in the sub-continent.

According to Durano, India is one of the important growth markets. The Philippines received 18,000 Indians tourists in 2005 and they expect to double that number in 2006. Earlier this year, the tourism department undertook a media and a travel agents familiarisation trip to the Philippines in the hope to gain more mileage.

Fabulous place, great opportunity... the hitch, however, is connectivity. Incidentally, there are no direct flights between the two countries. Durano informed that they have now partnered with Singapore Airlines for handling traffic from India.

"The two destinations "" Singapore and the Philippines "" complement each other and we see no reason why we cannot promote the two together," says Durano.

A bilateral air agreement between the two countries might be reviewed in March 2007 when the Philippines president visits India, adds Durano.

Sanjeet of Buzz Travel Marketing informed that the major thrust of marketing in India, beginning next year, would be on shopping, adventure, beaches, and the casinos.

"The feedback has been that the shopping experience in the Philippines is even better than in Dubai, Singapore or Malaysia," says Sanjeet.

Sunirmol Ghosh of Indo Asia Tours, however, feels that without direct flights, it will be very difficult to promote the country in India. He added tough that with India's growing outbound market, it is definitely worth a try.

"A lot of Indians have been to Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and other South-east Asian destinations. They are looking at newer destinations and the Philippines should fill in that gap," says Ghosh.

Durano revealed that they would be spending approximately $1-2 million in India, over the next year. Attracting Bollywood could be a priority. So, Manila here we come!