Roundtrip Tickets to the Philippines Promotion
of the Philippines Department of Tourism

Manila Times Internet Edition, Sunday - June 4, 2006

(http://www.manilatimes.net/national/
2006/june/04/yehey/opinion/20060604opi1.html)

Enticing Filipinos to come home

LAST year the Department of Tourism devoted its energies to boosting arrivals from Japan, Korea and China. This year it is targeting Filipinos in the US and Canada to promote tourism.

Why not? Statistics show that there are 2.5 million Filipinos in the United States and Canada. These consist of three generations that have reached a certain degree of affluence to afford visiting the Philippines regularly.

In 2005 the Department of Tourism registered 528,493 arrivals from the United States and 72,853 from Canada—the highest in 20 years—according to Tourism Secretary Joseph Durano. These figures nearly double those of 10 years ago, when there were 341,389 arrivals from the US and 45,725 from Canada.

To tap this huge tourism market, Durano and his team last Friday launched the department’s latest tourist attraction program, “The Philippines: Explore. Experience. Return.”

The first phase of the campaign, “The Great Philippine Free Flight Giveaway,” will do just that—give away 250 roundtrip tickets to lucky Filipinos in North America, particularly those in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Honolulu and Vancouver, who register through www.experiencephilippines.ph.

The second phase, “Out-of-the-Box Balikbayan Promo,” enters the names of balikbayan in a raffle, in which the monthly and grand prizes will reflect the “new” Philippines—a high-tech nation with modern goods to offer.

Both phases of the campaign will be launched on June 10 in San Francisco during the “Fiesta Filipino” show produced by ABS-CBN and The Filipino Channel.

The first batch of Filipinos who went to the United States after the war are now of retirement age and look forward to living in the Philippines.

The children and grandchildren of these retirees, many of whom have achieved fame and fortune, are encouraged to discover their roots, an opportunity for the country to earn more revenues.

Visit their website at www.experiencephilippines.ph