LAPU-LAPU CITY, Cebu — Seeing South Korea as an important tourism source market and driver for travel and tourism growth for the Philippines, the Department of Tourism (DOT) on Thursday (Apr. 13) hosted welcome rites for the record 1400 delegation of incentive travelers from Korea upon their arrival at the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA).
Leading the initiative to greet the Korean travelers with the distinct Filipino hospitality is no less than Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco who met a batch of 300 travelers from the delegation.
The travelers, who arrived at the MCIA via chartered flight KE 9615, are members of the Korea branch of UNICITY, a direct selling company on health functional foods, cosmetics and household items and with over 60 markets globally.
As a reward to their top agents, sellers, and distributors, UNICITY-Korea sends a big volume of incentive groups to Southeast Asian countries annually. This year, the company is sending 1,400 people in four batches (Apr. 9, 13, 17, and 21) to Cebu.
For 2023, Secretary Frasco happily shared that Korea has reclaimed the number one spot in terms of tourist arrivals to the Philippines.
DOT data showed a significant pick up in Korean arrivals since last year, with 428,014 or a 16.13 percent share of the country’s arrivals received between February 10–when the country eased its borders for leisure travelers—up until December 31, 2022.
“𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑛𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦, 𝑤𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 1.5 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐾𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠. 𝑆𝑜 𝑤𝑒’𝑟𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐾𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑈𝑁𝐼𝐶𝐼𝑇𝑌 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝 𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟, ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑛𝑜 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 1,400 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑠,” Secretary Frasco said.
Frasco was joined by Lapu-lapu City Lone Representative Congresswoman Cindi King-Chan; Lapu-lapu City Mayor Junard Ahong Chan; Mr. Rafael Aboitiz, Chief Executive Officer of GMR – Aboitiz; Mr. Julius G. Neri, MCIA General Manager; Mr. Heejin Noh, Corporate Business Team Leader of Tides Square Korea; and Mr. Sangyeol Ha, Korean Air Station Manager in Cebu, and officials of the DOT including Undersecretary Shahlimar Hofer Tamano, Undersecretary Ferdinand Jumapao, and OIC-Undersecretary Verna C. Buensuceso.
To complete their preview of the colorful Filipino experience, the travelers were also welcomed with leis, fascinating performances by Filipiniana-clad rondalla serenaders as well as vibrant Sinulog dancers.
𝗞𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗮 𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀
Prior to the pandemic, Korea ranked number one in terms of visitor arrivals to the Philippines, with 1,989,322 or 24.08 percent of the country’s total number of arrivals for 2019. As with other tourism source markets of the Philippines, arrivals from Korea declined drastically during the pandemic, dropping to 338,877 and 6,456, for 2020 and 2021, respectively.
“𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦’𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑑𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑦. 𝐿𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑤𝑜, 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑈𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 [𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑑] 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑡. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐾𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝐾𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑎, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝐶𝑒𝑏𝑢, 𝐵𝑜ℎ𝑜𝑙, 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑛, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑖𝑠𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠,” she added.
𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗠𝗜𝗖𝗘
Secretary Frasco, who earlier identified the diversification of the country’s tourism portfolio through multidimensional tourism as among the DOT’s seven main objectives, further noted that the arrival of a delegation as big as the UNICITY group as a welcome development especially with the DOT “𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑀𝐼𝐶𝐸 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑚 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑎 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐶𝑒𝑏𝑢.”
“𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑢𝑡𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑚𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑒𝑏𝑢 𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙, 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑚 𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑚 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠, 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒,” the DOT chief said.
To further boost the Korean tourism source market and visitor arrivals, the DOT through its office in Korea carries out marketing initiatives including an online presentation to educate the MICE players in the Philippines about the Korean MICE market, as well as participation to upcoming key events such as business-to-business (B2B) fairs, and a MICE roadshow.
As the DOT chief expressed confidence that the incentive travelers will be able to fully appreciate the beauty of Lapu-lapu City and the Province of Cebu, she also cited the potential of many other destinations – Bohol in particular, in attracting incentive travelers from Korea and other countries.
“𝑊𝑒’𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐵𝑜ℎ𝑜𝑙 𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑠𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑚 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝐶𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑉𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑎𝑠, 𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐵𝑜ℎ𝑜𝑙 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒-𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑚 𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑖𝑙𝑔𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑚,” she enthused.
