THE Department of Tourism (DOT) will be stepping up its promotions and marketing programs in Taiwan, after recent tourism arrivals reports indicated some sluggishness, and a new public survey showed the Philippines as an unpopular destination.
In the first four months of 2018, arrivals from Taiwan dipped almost 4 percent to 82,827, while the full-year 2017 arrivals report showed the Taiwanese tourists growing just by 3.3 percent to 236,777.
DOT Spokesman and Undersecretary for Tourism Development Planning Benito C. Bengzon Jr. acknowledged the seeming lethargy in arrivals from Taiwan, despite its proximity to the Philippines. He explained that last year’s slowdown, in particular, could be attributed “to the security threats faced by the country, which, in turn, prompted the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue a gray alert for the Philippines.”
He stressed, however, that “gray is the lowest alert in Taiwan’s four-color travel advisory, which only advises their citizens to ‘stay alert’ and ‘avoid large crowds.’”
Bengzon, however, underscored that the DOT “is intensifying its promotional activities in Taiwan through advertisements, product presentations, and active participation in travel events,” to address the slowdown in Taiwanese visitors.
He also noted that the total number of Taiwanese tourists visiting other countries in 2016 grew by 10.66 percent. But the growth rate of Taiwanese visitors in the member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations was only 4.58 percent in the same year. “Despite the below-the-curve growth rate of the overall Asean arrivals,” he added, “the Philippines performed extremely well, registering 29-percent growth—the highest among all the Asean nations,” to 229,303 tourists in 2016.
‘2nd most hated’–survey
As this developed, the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation, in a survey released on June 17, ranked the Philippines (52.9 percent of total respondents) as the second most hated country after North Korea (70.9 percent). It also ranked the Philippines ahead of China (43.9 percent), South Korea (33.8 percent) and Russia (29.7 percent).
The group, listed as a nongovernment and nonprofit institute specializing in opinion polls, did not say, however, why the Taiwanese felt negatively toward the Philippines. The results of this year’s survey remained unchanged from last year’s which also showed North Korea, the Philippines and China as the most unpopular among the Taiwanese.
The 2018 poll, meanwhile, showed that Taiwanese had the most favorable opinion toward Singapore (88.2 percent of total respondents), followed by Japan (84.5 percent), Canada 82.3 percent) the European Union (74.8 percent) and the United States (70.6 percent).
This year’s results were also the same as last year’s, except that Australia came in ahead of the United States as the most popular among Taiwanese.
DOT’s Tourism Attaché in Taipei Hazel V. Habito said in an e-mail that “generally, Taiwanese tourists consider the following relative to their choice of destinations: well-developed facilities, safety and security, accessibility, [they prefer] direct flights.”
However, she noted that the Taiwanese prefer Japan as a tourism destination because of the latter’s “interesting culture particularly the food, scenery, and quality products as they love to shop,” and China, primarily because they speak the same language and have relatives on the mainland.
She added that while the Taiwanese like “stress-free destinations” such as Boracay Island, they prefer Thailand and Vietnam “because the prices of Philippine tours compared to the two destinations are higher.”
Javier underscored that DOT-Taipei has been aggressively promoting how fun it would be for Taiwanese to visit the entire Philippines, but noted that they are also marketing specific destinations, such as Iloilo, Guimaras, Bacolod and the Ilocos region.
DOT-Taipei has also reintroduced golf as a major tourism activity, developing the MICE (meetings incentives, conventions and exhibits) market, aggressively promoting the Philippines as a venue to learn English as a second language, and “increasing our dive market and sporting events.”