THE Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) has suspended the collection of participation fees among its members-stakeholders attending travel fairs abroad, in a bid to boost the marketing efforts for the country, especially during the corona virus disease 2019 (Covid-19) outbreak.
Newly appointed TPB Chief Operating Officer Maria Anthonette C. Velasco-Allones made this disclosure at the general membership meeting of the Hotel Sales and Marketing Association Inc. (HSMA) on Thursday at the Bayleaf Hotel, Intramuros. The collection of the fees—an average $1,000 per member per event—“are suspended until June,” she said. The TPB is the marketing arm of the Department of Tourism (DOT).
This year, the TPB has lined up its participation in several trade and consumer fairs: the International Tourismus Bourse (ITB) Berlin (March 4 to 8), the Marine Diving Fair in Japan (April 3 to 5), Asia Dive Expo 2020 in Singapore (May 29 to 31), Arabian Travel Market in Dubai (April 19 and 20), Imex Frankfurt (May 12 to 14), ITB Asia in Singapore October 21 to 23), Tourism Expo Japan (October 29 to November 1), World Travel Market in London (November 2 to 4), and the DEMA Show (November 4 to 7).
It is also joining several Philippine Business Missions to Japan, the United States and Canada, and South Korea. While there are also business missions and trade fairs in China, the TPB has yet to firm up plans to attend these because of Covid-19.
The Covid-19 outbreak has prompted Manila to impose a travel ban on mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. The Bureau of Immigration on Thursday said the ban on travelers from Daegu and North Gyeongsang province in South Korea has been put on hold pending the issuance of clear guidelines.
In her presentation of TPB’s programs and activities this year, Allones asked HSMA members to persuade their respective hotels’ management to cut room rates to boost government’s domestic marketing campaign, a program to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on the tourism industry.
“How can we promote domestic tourism when our studies show we are not competitive in terms of rates? People will still prefer to go to Bali or Thailand, or Vietnam than go to Davao and Boracay, Iloilo, Bacolod, Coron or Bohol. We are quite pricey in that range,” she stressed. “That’s a complete action point for HSMA; perhaps you can convince the gatekeepers and decision- makers in terms of having a latitude to have competitive pricing for our local tourists, in the meantime that we are dealing with Covid-19,” she added.
An official list shows only 37 participating hotels and resorts so far in the domestic marketing campaign, launched on February 11 by the DOT and the Tourism Congress of the Philippines. Most of the participants offering “value packages” are in Metro Manila and Boracay, with a handful from Palawan, Cebu; and only one hotel each in Bohol, Iloilo, Bacolod; and two hotels in Davao. Room rates are up to 50-percent off published rates.
Allones also announced the TPB Board of Directors’ approval of an P87-million contingency fund to help stakeholders bounce back from crises, like the recent Taal eruption.
“The affected areas in Tagaytay, for example, can propose projects, which we can fund. So hazards, [impact from the] imposition of bans, the risk of unemployment – these are the circumstances covered by the guidelines [of the fund],” she underscored.
The TPB official also disclosed that she challenged her management team to increase the membership of the government firm. At present, the TPB has 120 members among an estimated 6,000 tourism stakeholders. “’We have to revisit the target this year,’” she told her team. “I want to get 10 percent of the 6,000. It can be done,” said Allones, and appealed to HSMA members to participate in the program.
Tourism stakeholders bucked the membership program of the TPB last year because of the P10,000-per-annum fee.