2014 has been a good year for Philippine tourism in terms of recognition from respectable publications: Destination of the Year (TTG Asia), Top 25 Countries to Retire in 2015 (Forbes), Must See Destination in 2015 (Lonely Planet), to name a few. Behind all these accolades is the hard work put in by the Department of Tourism and its marketing alter ego, the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB).
TPB and its predecessors have been at the forefront of promoting the Philippines as a preferred travel destination for the past four decades.
As the marketing arm of the Philippine Department of Tourism (DOT), TPB has gone through several transformations – as the Philippine Convention Bureau in 1976 and the Philippine Convention and Visitors Corporation in 1987. It is now on its 5th year of exercising its fresh and strengthened mandate as bestowed by Republic Act No. 9593, also known as the Tourism Act of 2009.
Its present charter allows for greater participation by the private sector and other government agencies critical to the success of the country’s tourism programs. Concrete steps were also taken to institutionalize and increase its budget to enable TPB to eventually provide for itself.
2014 was a year when International Visitor Arrivals to the Philippines increased to 4,833,368 foreign tourists compared to the previous year’s 4,681,307. This continuous growth in arrivals slowed down, however, to 3.25 percent compared to the average growth of 11.65 percent for the past four years.
This slide can be attributed to cancellations of bookings as a result of a series of calamities and strained foreign relations that affected inbound arrivals. The good thing is we still managed to gain more value from our tourism receipts and grew it 13% to P215-billion from P190B in 2013.
Despite the setback of not achieving DOT’s target of 6.8-million tourists for 2014, the Tourism Promotions Board still managed to meet goals and surpass targets of the organization by being more aggressive in international and domestic promotions with 226 projects; supporting MICE proponents resulting in 4 won bids and 141 booked events; supporting market teams in promoting the Philippines as a preferred destination worldwide with a marketing budget of PHP 1,238,220,000.00; by maintaining a high-profile for the brand through sustained online presence and being active on social media; and, by launching the tactical campaign: Visit Philippines Year 2015.
TPB was also judicious in spending its operational budget of almost PHP 2 billion; and ensured that the organization was prepared to face the challenges through the reorganization and the ISO Certification, and that its people were empowered with the right skills and highly motivated by a pleasant corporate culture and a conducive working environment. ABISO/PAUL EDWARD P. SISON
