DOT eyes 6 new markets

The Department of Tourism (DOT) is looking to tap six potential visitor markets in a revitalized campaign to get them booking for tours here.

The new markets with the capacity to generate new visitors are Thailand, India, Vietnam, Russia, Indonesia and the Middle East. This is to add to the country’s biggest tourist markets particularly Korea, which  accounted for over 480,000 arrivals or 23.22 percent of 2,073,851 total visitors in the first four months of the year.

The DOT said  it developed niche segments for the expansion efforts, which include dive cruises, medical travel and wellness tourism, route development and interest on English as a second language.

To develop name recall in Central Asia and Eastern Europe, the DOT teamed up with the country’s largest apparel retailer SELA to launch an “Inspired by the Philippines” collection, sold in 400 stores in 200 cities in Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine  and Belarus.

The shirts, considered walking DOT billboards, have six designs featuring Manila, Cebu, Bohol and Siargao Island and is complemented with Philippine-made fashion accessories like bags, bracelets and costume jewelry.

According to DOT data there were 35,378 Russian visitors last year with the market steadily growing at a rate of 6.5 percent.