An avid traveler and media production executive is spearheading a campaign to build a comprehensive travel information portal about Philippine tourism in a bid to spread the culture of tourism across the country and generate livelihood for Filipinos along the way.
“We believe that tourism is a key driver of the economy,” says Diane Zoleta, the founder and chief executive of Yapak.ph, the first aggregator of tourism information about the Philippines. Her experience as an advertising executive who organized photoshoots in exotic places all over the country and as a talent manager who brought artists and celebrities to numerous town fiestas in the provinces has opened her eyes to the beauty and rich heritage of the Philippines. At the same time, a visit to Thailand in the 1990s, where ‘tuk tuk’ and cab drivers provided helpful tips and laminated maps on destinations as if they were tour guides, has awakened her desire to make Filipinos embrace tourism the way the Thais promoted their country.
“We have more to offer. And yet, Filipinos are not as entrepreneurial when it comes to promoting tourism. How nice it would be if we Filipinos know the best destinations in our country. That is the main goal of Yapak.ph. We want to enable Filipinos to promote the Philippines,” says Zoleta.
Zoleta, who earned a degree in Broadcast Communication from the University of the Philippines and now heads Dayang Media Productions and Star Models International Talent Management Agency, wants all Filipinos to help promote the Philippines as a primary tourism destination and raise the bar on the quality of services and products provided to travelers from all over the world. She initially planned to produce a travel map, like the ones presented by ‘tuk tuk’ and cab drivers in Thailand, but the idea grew much bigger with the onset of digital technologies.
Zoleta teamed up with fellow Rotarian, Trichie de Vera, the country representative of iCare Benefits Philippines Inc. to put Yapak.ph into operation.
“We will launch our website on Oct. 24. The website is going to be the information portal—an initial platform that will evolve into more technology-based initiatives. Unlike any other information portal, Yapak.ph will hopefully have everything that you want to know about the Philippines in just one site,” says de Vera, also an alumna of the University of the Philippines, who serves as chief operating officer of Yapak.ph.
Zoleta, who helped produce some of the most memorable television commercials and print ads for ‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines’, developed the idea for Yapak.ph as early seven years ago and started engaging her team of advertising professionals and university students to shoot travel sites and collate local travel information two years ago.
“Seven years ago, I wanted to start a Philippine travel map. My idea was to provide free travel maps at that time, when Internet was not yet prevalent in the country. The map would encourage people to travel and walk, hence the word ‘yapak’,” she says.
The advent of technology, however, encouraged Zoleta to produce a more comprehensive tourism portal that contains not just a map, but also information, tips and guides that will help foreign and domestic tourists discover provinces, cities, towns and even barangays in the Philippines.
Now, Yapak.ph is considered a pioneer in providing the public with an engaging and personalized website on anything and everything about the Philippines. As a pioneer in tourism aggregation, its mission is to aggregate and organize Philippine tourism and travel information and services to make them “simple yet comprehensive, distinct yet diverse, accessible yet aggregated, in an experiential, personalized, and time efficient manner.”
“We aim to become the nation’s most comprehensive tourism information portal unifying a wide range of data about the Philippines—from its travel destinations, local communities, culture, cuisines, events and more,” she says.
Zoleta says while other websites focus on just four topics such as adventure, eco-tourism, sustainable tourism and destinations, Yapak.ph encompasses 16 categories in the tourism industry. It provides information on such areas as medical tourism, health establishments, extreme adventures, museum, sports, nightlife, Filipino heritage, social entrepreneurship, knowledge exchange, beaches, pocket parks, nature, food finds, newest spots around the block and history, culture and the arts.
“We realized that there are different kinds of tourism. We enumerated 16 of them,” she says.
Zoleta says the overall vision is “to make the Philippines the No. 1 tourist destination in Southeast Asia by providing the Filipinos and the international community global access to a central information hub and a one stop online store for Philippine tourism and travel in one aggregated site.”
“We offer an expansive ecosystem on Philippine travel and tourism, built on a convergence of three elements: a travel and tourism information portal, a network of partnerships and alliances, and an engaged community of travelers and supporters of Philippine tourism,” she says.
Zoleta says more than just an information portal, Yapak.ph aims to builds a growing network of digital and offsite stakeholders who have a shared vision of making the Philippines the top tourist destination in Southeast Asia.
“We are fostering engagement, where each stakeholder is an active contributor in strengthening local tourism, elevating it as a major driver of the Philippine economy, not only for the purpose of consumption spending but in delivering social impact,” she says.
She recalls that when she visited Thailand, the ‘tuk tuk’ driver who brought her to different destinations also took her to a gold store. “As I was browsing the merchandise, I saw that one of the ladies working in the said store handed the man a gas voucher. On our way back to my hotel, I asked him what the voucher was for, and he told me that whenever he brought tourists into the establishment, the owners gave him a gas voucher for his trouble, even if the tourist didn’t end up buying anything from the store,” Zoleta says.
Zoleta came back to the Philippines with so many ideas on to how to help fellow Filipinos do the same or how to provide them with a free service that consolidates all the travel-related information about the country.
The result is Yapak.ph, which also includes initiatives such as community service revenue programs to create sustainable livelihood and the formation of Yapak Club, an engagement to connect university and college students.
“Yapak Club now has Lyceum chapter and PUP chapter. The good thing about it is that later on, Yapak Club members will also feed information. We are also in talks to have chapters in UE, Adamson, FEU, La Salle and College of Saint Benilde,” says Zoleta.
Zoleta says Yapak’s business model will have digital advertising as its main anchor, where companies such as hotels, airlines, transport providers and travel agencies will converge to market their products and services.
“With Yapak, we will also create livelihood programs for the people. We will promote even small businesses such as eateries,” she says.
Yapak also has a Facebook page which has already attracted 12,000 followers. “We engage the followers by posting three to five articles a day with focus on millennials. We provide tips, tourist spots, food finds or trivia. We also have ‘hugot’ lines complete with graphics,” says Zoleta.
Zoleta also plans to launch a journal app, or a travel planner that will remind subscribers of their itinerary.
“But the revenue model leans on advertising, because that is our expertise. We envision to put media and advertising together through Yapak,” she says.