UTRECHT, The Netherlands – Discerning Dutch tourists are increasingly attracted to the Philippines because of its unspoiled and less touristic spots, compared to other popular but saturated tourism destinations in Asia.
During the yearly Vakantie Beurs, the biggest travel and tourism expo in The Netherlands, last Jan. 10 to 13, the Philippine booth had quite a busy four days receiving inquiries and bookings.
“This year, I notice we really have a very high rate of inquiry. Not only inquiries but a lot of people are really interested in going to the Philippines because they heard from friends how the Philippines is, how beautiful the Philippines, how friendly the people are. There is really a high degree of interest to visit the country,” said Lenee Berringer of the Philippines’ Department of Tourism Europe office based in Frankfurt.
She added that the Dutch are quality tourists who spend an average 17 days in the Philippines.
The participation of the Philippines to the Vakantie Beurs is important to capture the Dutch market. The Dutch begin planning their vacation in January and this travel expo, which is on its 49th year, is a kick-off. Almost every country is represented here, with a total of 1,088 participating destinations, travel agencies, organizations, hotels, and airlines.
The Philippines offers a very unique selling point, said Eric Prins, the manager of Undiscovered, a specialized travel agency present at the Philippine booth. Undiscovered carries only three destinations in Asia and three in Africa, and the Philippines is the top-selling.
“We can see a growing demand to visiting the Philippines, not only the divers but also the travelers who want a new kind of Asia because everybody is travelling to Thailand, to Vietnam, to Indonesia. For everybody who wants to experience something different, the Philippines comes up,” Prins said.
His travel company promotes unique experiences and unspoiled places in the Philippines, which they dubbed as “een absoluut meesterwerk van Moeder Natuur” (an absolute masterwork of Mother Nature). They offer exclusive and tailor-made trips, for example, to unexplored beaches of the Visayas and Palawan, and a Philippine heritage trail. The Visayas and Palawan package is the most popular.
The Dutch travelers have varying interests but the Philippines can capture all demographics. Prins said older travelers tend to favor Luzon for history and culture and the younger ones prefer El Nido, Siquijor, and Siargao. But both demographics like the quietness and remoteness and natural beauty of the country.
“The Philippines is like a picture. It’s real. You don’t need to lie about the pictures. It’s beautiful. It’s even more beautiful than the pictures show. We can say it, we can mention it, we can write it but what’s really touching everybody is the Filipino people. They are heart-warming and everybody is always amazed by the hospitality of the Filipino people,” Prins said.
For Eva of Travel Boutique, another agency specializing in Philippine tours, the country is every Dutch tourist’s answered wish because it has almost everything. “It doesn’t matter what travel wish you have. The Philippines is always an island that suits your wishes.”
The inquiries about the Philippines ranged from the usual interesting destinations to flights and accommodations. Some asked about alternative destinations as remote as Cuyo Island in Palawan.
The newly reopened Boracay also got a lot of interest, according to DoT’s Berringer.
“A lot of people have heard of Boracay; that it was closed but they really took it positively. So now there are inquiries on how they could get there, to get back to the island, so I explained what are the new rules and what happened to Boracay now,” she said.
The country has been participating in the Vakantie Beurs in the Netherlands for decades now and according to DoT’s Berringer, the Philippine booth has gotten bigger in the last few years.
“We really need to step up our promotion because there are still a lot of people who do not know the Philippines. You know, they have been to Asia. But then Asia for them is the continent. And then they see, there is the Philippines which belongs to Asia but then they’re crossing a big body of water. So for them, sometimes, it’s quite far. So we have to show them. It is not. It is just an illusion that the Philippines is so far. So some of them, they fly to Australia and that’s much farther than us,” Berringer said.
Berringer added the DoT in Europe has its hands full this month with five travel fairs such as the ones in The Netherlands, Vienna, Paris and Stuttgart.
It seems the hard work is slowly paying off with more Europeans taking interest in the Philippines.
“They are travelling more and more to the Philippines. It is also because a lot of influencers are invited also to come to the Philippines. More and more people have relatives and friends who have been to the Philippines and they heard of beautiful stories so they are getting interested,” Prins of Undiscovered travel agency said. (ABS-CBN News)
