With the China travel ban and the impending ban of tourists from South Korea as well, the Philippines Department of Tourism faces a dilemma of playing catch for the loss of the country’s two top tourist arrivals.
Tourists to and from China and its provinces Hong Kong and Macau were banned until the end of March upon recommendation of the Department of Health (DOH) while travelers coming from the North Gyeongsang province in South Korea were likewise banned from entering the Philippines starting February 27.
Currently, South Korea has the most number of COVID-19 cases outside China with 1,146, most of which came from Daegu and its nearby areas.
“We signed our tourism agreement with Korea last November, their President (Moon Jae-in) will come in July for a state visit, and they are our number one tourists. Banning all of Korea until March will cost us 9 billion pesos, not including lost revenue from China (with Macau and HK). I suggested maybe we can copy the Singapore strategy of banning only Daegu and Cheongdo. But South Korean government itself has already stopped flights coming from Daegu. Then the Koreans themselves are canceling flights from other cities on their own,” Puyat said in an assembly with Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) recently.
South Korea has been a perennial topnotcher in arrivals. Last year there were 1.98 million tourists with China not far behind with 1.74 million arrivals, both countries totaling 45 percent of the total international tourists that visited the Philippines.
Presently, the tourism industry is reeling from the effects of Covid-19. Cancellations are hurting airlines, travel agents, tour operators, hotels, and resorts. It is expected that a trickle-down effect will also be felt by related stakeholders like tour guides, transportation providers, souvenir shops, ESL schools, even vendors.
And with many Filipinos cancelling or postponing their overseas travel as well, it is just wise for the government travel agency to promote local tourism.
During “The 2020 Philippine Shopping Festival” this March 2020, foreign and local tourists can avail up to 70 percent discounts on many exciting Philippine-made products, including food and dining, jewelry and fashion, crafts, furniture, and decor, and beauty and wellness products.
With country’s official tourism tagline,“It’s More Fun in the Philippines,” for sure, massive fun is part of any holiday in the 7,641-island country. Visit the Philippines so you can come up your own reasons. The millennials should start roaming the Philippines first to experience and love their own country! Avail affordable airfares and cheaper hotel accommodations for the promotion period. Various airlines including Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific Air, Air Asia, Air Carriers Association of the Philippines will be slashing off airfare tickets to accommodate local tourists.
An affordable travel destination, with the current exchange rate of US$1 = 52 Philippine pesos, foreigners love the Philippine weather because it gives them the natural tan they want while they frolic the beaches. The tropical weather in the Philippines is not too hot compared to Middle East countries. It’s just the perfect summer weather for every vacationing traveler.
Best known for its natural beauty, from white sandy beaches and rich coral reefs to green mountains, perfectly-shaped volcanoes and brightly-colored Ifugao Rice Terraces, tourists visit the Philippines for all sorts of reasons: sailing and island hopping, the people and culture, volcanoes, scuba diving and snorkeling, Spanish colonial architecture, swimming with whale sharks, natural landscapes, shopping and eating with 7,641 islands to explore.
Souvenirs abound
For shoppers and souvenir-hunters, if malls and standalone stores are not the place for you to shop, then souvenirs and rare items may suit your fancy and discriminating taste.
The Philippines is a great place to buy indigenous art, woodwork, masks and religious artifacts, mostly at rock-bottom prices. Manila also has mega malls with stores offering much the same designer gear you can find in London or New York and other high-end shopping mecca abroad. The country’s department-store chains such as Rustan’s, Ayala’s, Robinson’s and SM are good for clothes and shoes, at slightly lower prices than in the West.
Typical souvenirs include models of jeepneys, woo den salad bowls, cotton linen and small items such as fridge magnets made of cocunut, sea, and fruit shells or indigenous materials. In department stores you can find cutlery sets made from carabao horn and bamboo and costing less than P2000. Woven placemats and coasters are inexpensive and easy to pack to take home. Filipino picture frames are eye-catching and affordable. Made from raw materials such as bamboo and Manila hemp, they are available in most department stores. All towns have markets that sell cheap local goods such as sleeping mats (banig) that make colorful wall hangings, and earthenware water jars or cooking pots that make attractive additions to a kitchen.
For serious souvenir-hunting, you’ll have to rummage around in small antique shops. There aren’t many of these, and they’re often tucked away in low-rent areas. The better shops in big cities are listed in the Guide; elsewhere, ask the hotel staff, browse the internet or ask the locals. Many of the items in these shops are religious artifacts, although you’ll also find furniture, decorative vases, lamps, old paintings, mirrors and brassware.
Some souvenir stores and antique shops will ship goods home for you for an extra charge. Otherwise you could send bulky items home by regular post. Note that the trade in coral and seashells as souvenirs in beach areas is decidedly unsound environmentally, as is the manufacture of decorative objects and jewellery from seashells.
Tribal and religious artifacts
Not all tribal and religious artifacts are genuine, but even the imitations make good gifts. Woven baskets and trays of the kind used by Cordillera tribes are a bargain, starting from only a few hundred pesos. They come in a range of sizes and shapes, including circular trays woven from grass that are still used to sift rice, and baskets worn like a backpack for carrying provisions. The best are the original tribal baskets, which cost a little more than the reproductions, but have an appealing nut-brown timbre as a result of the many times they have been oiled. You can find them in antique shops around the country and also in markets in Banaue and Sagada.
Some exceptional home accessories and ornaments are produced by tribes in Mindanao, particularly in less touristy areas such as Marawi City and around Lake Sebu. Beautiful brass jars, some of them more than a meter tall, cost around P2000 and up, while exquisite wooden chests inlaid with mother-of-pearl cost around P3000, inlaid serving trays P500.
Rice gods (bulol), carved wooden deities sometimes with nightmarish facial expressions, are available largely in Manila and the Cordilleras. In Manila, they cost anything from a few hundred pesos for a small reproduction to P20,000 for a genuine figurine of modest size; they’re much cheaper if you haggle for them in Banaue or Sagada. At markets in the Cordilleras, look out also for wooden bowls, various wooden wall carvings and fabric wall hangings.
The best place to look for Catholic religious art is in Manila, though antique shops in other towns also have a selection. Wooden Catholic statues called santos and large wooden crucifixes are common. Cheaper religious souvenirs such as rosaries and icons of saints are sold by street vendors outside many of the more high-profile pilgrimage cathedrals and churches such as Quiapo in Manila and Santo Niño in Cebu.
Textiles for clothing and handicrafts
In market areas such as Divisoria in Manila, Colon in Cebu and the Palitan barter center in Marawi, Mindanao, you can find colorful raw cloth and finished batik products. Don’t leave Mindanao without investing a couple of hundred pesos in a malong, a versatile tube-like garment of piña (pineapple fiber) that can be used as a skirt, couture, blanket or bedsheet. Ceremonial malong are more ornate and expensive, from P4000 to P10,000. Another native textile is Manila hemp, which comes from the trunk of a particular type of banana tree. Both piña and Manila hemp are used to make attractive home accessories sold in department stores, such as laundry baskets, lampshades and vases. The versatile and pliable native grass, sikat, is woven into everything from placemats to rugs.
Department stores everywhere have a good selection of Philippine linen products with delicate embroidery and lace flourishes. Some of these are handmade in Taal; a good set of pillowcases and bedsheets will cost about P2000 in Taal’s market, half the price in Rustan’s or SM. In beach areas you’ll find a good range of cotton sarongs, cheap (from P200), colorful and versatile – they can be used as tablecloths or throws.
Jewellery
The malls are full of stalls selling cheap jewellery, but you’ll also find silver-plated earrings, replica tribal-style jewellery made with tin or brass, and attractive necklaces made from bone or polished coconut shell. In Mindanao – as well as in some malls in Manila, Cebu City and at souvenir stalls in Boracay – pearl jewellery is a bargain. Most of the pearls are cultivated on pearl farms in Mindanao and Palawan. White pearls are the most common, but you can also find pink and dove grey. They are made into earrings, necklaces and bracelets; simple earrings cost around P450 while a necklace can range from P1000 for a single string up to P10,000 for something more elaborate.
Musical instruments
In Cebu, and increasingly on the streets of Manila and Davao, you can pick up a locally made handcrafted guitar, bandurria (mandolin) or ukelele. Though the acoustic quality is nothing special, the finish may include mother-of-pearl inlays, and prices are low – a steel-string acoustic guitar will set you back P2000. Mindanao’s markets – such as Aldevinco in Davao – are a good place to rummage for decorative drums and Muslim gongs.
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