The Philippines Department of Tourism is hopeful that recent destruction caused by natural disasters will not significantly impact growth in arrivals from Australia, with tourism more essential than ever to help fund the recovery effort.
A 7.1-magnitude earthquake that struck the island nation in October was followed just weeks later by devastating Typhoon Haiyan which wreaked chaos across central areas of the country with significant loss of life.
But Philippines Tourism attaché Consuelo Jones stressed to Travel Today that the damage did not extend to the main tourist areas of Manila, Boracay and Cebu.
“They have been spared – everything there is normal,” she said. “Affected areas are not areas frequented by Australian travellers.”
Hotels in the main tourism areas withstood the damage and are open for business as usual, so Jones is optimistic tourists will continue to come.
“I have been checking with the airlines and they have not recorded big numbers of cancellations,” she said. “Those who are thinking about travelling to the destination, I hope they don’t change their minds because at the end of the day we really need tourism to help build the country and to keep the economy going – we just need to keep the stability going.”
The last few years have seen double digit growth from the Australian market, she revealed. Between January and August, Australian visitor numbers to the destination grew 11.8% year on year to reach 118,050.
“We just hope that they trust and know that everything is ok,” she added.
Jones issued a heartfelt thank you to the travel industry for its support in the wake of the disaster with many companies holding events or other initiatives to raise funds for those affected.
“From the bottom of my heart, on behalf of the people of the Philippines, thank you so much for all the generosity and kindness. In Australia the tourism industry has been so, so supportive of us and it’s really amazing,” she said.
“Everybody is doing something and it’s so heartwarming. Australians have always been so generous with us but I have never seen the outpouring that we have seen this time.”
Organisations as diverse as Royal Caribbean, G Adventures, Peninsula Hotels, TravelManagers, Adventure World, United Airlines, British Airways and many others have been hard at work to do their bit for the cause.
On Monday, the Australia Philippines Business Council will hold a fundraising dinner at Parliament House in Sydney supported by the NSW Government and the Philippine Consulate General and will be held in the Strangers Dining Room at 6.30pm. Tickets are priced at $120 and are available by contacting 02 8064 2422.
