“The point is to match our many destinations with the preferences of specific target markets”
While the grant of 14-day visa-free entitlement to Taiwanese visitors is both goodwill to our northernmost neighbor and ease of travel, this alone will not guarantee a hefty increase in visitor arrivals from Taiwan.
To begin with, we ought to deconstruct the data about Taiwanese visitor arrivals, according to purpose of visit and age. We will discover that many of the visitors came here either for employment in Taiwanese-owned companies or regular business visits to the ecozones where their capital was invested.
We also need to study the market by age and destination preferences. Our tourism promotions have been generally focused on sun, sand and sea, which is alright because we have extremely beautiful islands with enticing white sands that bask in the tropical sun.
This partly explains why our travel peak season coincides with the relatively colder months from November till February, when the bitter cold in temperate climes, whether European, Asian or North American, contrasts with our warm waters, clear skies and plenty of sunlight, providing pleasant escape from their winter.
But we fail to consider the school breaks for the young, who also want to escape from the sweltering summer heat in their countries.
With climate change and global warming, the Philippines ought to find a niche market here, because while this may be monsoon season for Luzon, in Mindanao and parts of the Visayas, there is little rain at this time.
We can promote mountain climbing and hiking as well as white-water rafting in Mindanao, with Bukidnon, Davao and other southern provinces packaged in a multi-activity tour, complete with accompanying security personnel, just to neutralize unfair peace and order perceptions.
Northern Luzon can provide good travel packages for Taiwanese visitors, especially the young.
There are sand dunes in Ilocos Norte which are non-existent in Taiwan, side by side with the calm waters of Lingayen Gulf and the surfing waves of San Juan in La Union and Pagudpud.
Visiting the Cordillera mountain range from Ilocos Sur or Baguio City would also be attractive for Taiwanese youth who love mountain climbing.
The point is to match our many destinations with the preferences of specific target markets, and not be singularly focused on sand and sea. Even food tours featuring our regional cuisine can be promoted.
Pilgrimage tours in the only predominantly Catholic country in Southeast Asia can be an attraction.
We have a surfeit of age-old churches which would appeal to the Christian community in Taiwan, South Korea and Japan who may be tired of comparing the Buddhist or Taoist shrines in their native countries to those of Thailand.
Our creative industries may likewise be promoted, be it music, the arts, and fashion, where Filipinos excel.
I recall that when we sponsored the first Asian showing of Ms. Saigon featuring our inimitable Lea Salonga, thousands from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan came just to witness the world-class performance at the Cultural Center.
(This writer, together with now Sen. JV Ejercito, and a private sector group that included Atty. Bingbong Medialdea and the late businessman Arben Santos among others, produced the Ms. Saigon event in the year 2000 through our purely private-sector sponsored foundation).
Sports events from dragon boat races, target shooting, diving and other less-popular sports to basketball-crazy Filipinos will attract many Taiwanese visitors as well. These may be sponsored by public-private partnerships.
The other industry that we must seriously look into, other than the mere grant of Special Retirement Visas to foreigners by our Philippine Retirement Authority, is putting up retirement havens for seniors in the country.
This will take some doing, to include having good health facilities that are easily accessible in the target areas, to which the private medical sector may be enticed with enough assurance of government support, including low interest loans from government-owned banks.
Japan, Taiwan and other countries are strained by social security costs from an aging population which is un-supported by low contributions from a declining young work force.
Imagine retirement havens with fruit, vegetable and flower farms side by side with leisure activities in our countryside, providing employment to many Filipinos while transferring technology and best practices to our farmers.
There are so many things that could be done other than the mere grant of 14-day visa free travel privileges, but we need to get our acts together, with purposive and creative leadership.
All these will however need to address the major factors of accessibility, affordability and security which currently bedevil our attraction as a tourist destination.
