Gov tells tourism players: Up ante

NAGA CITY—Camarines Sur Gov. Luis Raymund Villafuerte rallied tourism industry players in the region to raise their levels of branding and marketing following the successful holding of the 22nd Philippine Ad Congress in the province.

The Bicol Association of Travel Agencies and Tour Operators (Batto) congratulated the governor for the success of the Ad Congress that also brought a spike in tourist bookings in the province and income for tourism players.

Catchy, positive

Batto sponsored a lunch ceremony for the governor recently. “The secret in successful ventures like tour and travel businesses is having catchy branding, effective marketing and good service,” the governor said in a speech during the event.

Villafuerte said positive promotion to outweigh the negative cases of a place was important for tourists to come.

He said negative cases couldn’t be prevented in any place, but excellent service, warm reception, courtesy and hospitality could outweigh these negative factors.

“Before you know it, there will be repeat visitors, tugging along with them their family and friends because of their positive experience,” Villafuerte said.

2-syllable trend

Villafuerte said tourism promotion required out-of-the-box ideas and catchy phrases.

“We branded the province as CamSur, following trend in international promotion that uses two syllables to promote products and places,” he said.

Villafuerte said tourists tend to remember two-syllable names like CamSur. He said this was true also in the case of Boracay, which many tourists now refer to as “Bora.”

Package tours

The governor said there was also a need to prepare menus for package tours that he said would be cost-effective.

CamSur, he said, would continue to draw in tourists because Bicol is a “gateway” for the Visayas and Mindanao.

He said extra care should be taken in providing tourists with their best experience because any negative experience would have a multiplier effect on any place’s tourism business.