Travel group eyes Koreans to restart PH tourism industry

The Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA) wants to boost operations of travel agencies, which the association expects to slowly resume operations in the coming months, by formalizing an agreement with its Korean counterpart.

In his presentation during the Korea Tourism Organization travel webinar, PTAA president Ritchie Tuaño said they wanted to negotiate an agreement with the Korean Association of Travel Agents at the soonest possible time.

“We would highly appreciate the drafting and signing of a memorandum of understanding wherein both sides will commit to only dealing with accredited travel agencies and tour operators that are members of both our associations,” Tuaño said.

According to Tuaño, a deal with the Korean industry group would be a first for the association in terms of same-level international partnership and would add to the groundwork that is being done to slowly revitalize local travel agencies operations.

Tuaño said that South Korea was a prime consideration because of the volume of tourist traffic from both sides.

In describing the ideal agreement, Tuaño said that aside from both parties providing a list of their members to exclusively work with, the deal could possibly also cover items such as standardized tour costing based on itineraries, recommended list of destinations per travel segment, and the setting up of a complaints and grievance committee.

“Two-way tourism between our two countries have been growing over the past 10 years,” he said. “We want that growth trajectory to continue long term.” Aside from partnering with its Korean counterparts, the local industry association is also pushing for 100-percent visa free entry to South Korea.

Currently, Filipinos are allowed visa free entry to Jeju Island. There is also the new five-day visa-free entry that comes with the stipulation that Filipino tourists enter through a major city and exit through Jeju Island.

“While we commend the maximum five-day visa free entry, both our governments must work on a complete visa-free entry,” Tuaño said while citing the Taiwan model, which after giving visa-free entry in 2017 saw a rapid increase in Filipino tourists. INQ