Philippine tourism ‘fantastic,’ but seen to need boost

The Philippines is a “fantastic” market for regional tourism, but it is still missing out on the opportunity to corner a large share of the market due to lack of intermodal transport accessibility, a visiting travel technology solutions expert said.

Just as important as building physical infrastructure is harnessing new technologies to seamlessly link up different modes of transportation to make it easier for tourists to navigate the country, said David Brett, president of Amadeus Asia Pacific.

Also crucial is for airports across the globe to make it easier for travelers to pass through, given that airports play a big part in the overall travel experience, Brett said in an interview on Friday.

“I think there’s an enormous potential in the market, with the large population and the geography. There’s enormous option for growth. Even though the growth has been quite dramatic, there’s still room for a lot more and I’m sure we’ll see that happening,” said Brett, who is based in Bangkok, Thailand.

He said the Philippines was still “underdeveloped” in terms of international travel, citing the low volume of carriers flying in from overseas.

“But there’s enormous opportunity on a regional and global, especially on regional, basis. We’re talking about Facebook and social media. With people getting in contact on a regional basis, people want to travel a lot,” he said. “And I think the Philippines is just a country that needs to facilitate that a lot more.”

To date, Brett said the Philippines was still in the “off-the-beaten” track. It’s neither easy nor accessible relative to other top markets like Bali and Singapore, with people visiting the country mostly for some specific activity like diving, instead of thinking of the country as an overall holiday destination, he said.

“Again, it goes back to facilitation of transport, the linkages of transport. You’ve got to make it easy for people to go across different modes of transport,” he said.

By working with more airlines and hotels, Brett said Amadeus would like to help make it easier for tourists to book not only for travel within Metro Manila but all the way into the provinces.