The Philippines hosted the best party at World Travel Market this year in order to kick off the announcement that next year is going to be a key year for them in tourism, with Visit Philippines 2015 being a major focus. They were the regional hosts of the Asia Hall at WTM and they certainly made us begin to see why “it’s more fun in the Philippines” during their lively festival. They are aiming to achieve 10m arrivals next year with the launch of Visit the Philippines Year 2015. This will no doubt help build up the awareness and confidence of a country who has so recently had to deal with a devastating natural disaster. Saturday 8th November will be the one year anniversary of the Super Typhoon Haiyan that decimated huge swathes of the country and killed more than 7,350 people. In many ways the recovery has been remarkable with local and international aid agencies helping to build thousands of new houses as well as extensive rice planting campaigns that are helping to get people back on their feet. That said, there is still a long way to go and there is no doubt that Saturday will be a difficult day for them all.
Having spent lots of time there as a child I have experienced first hand the resilience of the Filipino people and their love of life. They have a hugely positive outlook in general (and they love singing) and tourism is consequently seen as being a key area of growth in order to help get their country back on the map.
Music, food, drinks and dance all flowed at their stand yesterday with the COO of the Tourism Promotions Board, Domingo Ramon “Chicoy” Enerio III inviting us to all join in. We had Dinagyan Beat – a Grupo Tribale with some dancers playing amazing drums as well as beatbox and a fusion of old and new dances AND some locally made delicious ice-cream.
Love this guy dancing – he didn’t stop for hours!
They acknowledged the many celebrities that helped them get back on their feet and they are looking forward to building on this support in order to help the growth of the Philippines tourism promotion in general moving forward.
They have many very exciting plans to capitalise on the success of the “It’s More Fun In The Philippines” campaign and are going to be doing far more social media events and campaigns to get the word out, having achieved initial success with user-generated content from locals sharing their own experiences. The destination has so much to offer:- did you know for example that there are 7,100 islands that make up the country? SO much to do – SO many beautiful places: diving is extraordinary, LOADS of festivals, gorgeous beaches and lots more that I’m looking forward to telling you about in the near future….
Did you also know that there are more English speakers in The Philippines than there are in the UK?
Did you also know that they dressed me up to look marginally ridiculous? HOPE it means I get to go soon!!
