Philippines Gears Up for Growing Outbound Korean Golf Tourists

The Seoul International Golf & Resort 2007 showcasing golf-related equipments and tourist destinations opened on March 1 at Seoul Trade Exhibition and Convention (SETEC) in southern Seoul for a four-day run.

Joining the event, which also offers a successful business arena as well as international exchange of golf industries, were the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan as well as major golf equipment makers here and abroad.

“Korea is a lucrative market for the Philippines, especially golf tourism is concerned,”said Ms Maricon Basco-Ebron, tourism attache at the Philippine Embassy in Seoul.
With its excellent climate and beautiful golf courses, the Philippines has been attracting thousands of golfing tourists each month and the numbers is expected to pick up steam further thanks to its proximity and reasonable travel expenses, among others..

She flew into Seoul on Feb. 27, 2007 leading a high-powered Philippine golf and resort business delegation to step up marketing activities here with a well-designed and eye-catching sales booth in the center stage of the exhibition hall.

Mohd Rosly Selamat, CEO of Pempena SDN BHD and Roy B. Martin, an executive of Paramount, a leading Philippine property management company were among those who joined the Philippine delegation, said Ms Janet Park, president of Woorim P&G Tour.

Korea is the largest Asian market for Philippine tourism, and second biggest source of foreign tourists, accounting for about 20 percent of the total market share.

The Philippines aims for 8%-10% growth in tourist arrivals in 2007, Ms Maricon Basco-Ebron quoted Philippine Tourism Secretary Joseph Durano as having said.

Arrivals last year reached a record 2.84 million, and the goal is to increase that to as many as 3.2 million this year, she disclosed..
Last year, South Korea narrowly beat the U.S. as the top source of visitors. Japan was the third-largest, while China was the fastest-growing.
The Philippines aims to attract 5 million foreign visitors by 2010.

The latest data show that tourism accounts for less than 3% of Philippine GDP and the figure is projected to rise to 5% by 2010.
Spending a daily average of $90 a day per visitor, tourism last year injected about $2.7 billion into the economy, she quoted Secretary Durano as having said recently in a business forum with economic leaders in Manila.

“My recommendation for you is to tee off and experience the beautiful settings of the Philippines’ unique golfing enclaves.” she said pointing out that golf courses designed by golf’s premier architects radiating the strategic brilliance of such greats as Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player,

Among the major international golf events in the Philippines are the Johnnie Walker Classic, the World Amateur Golf Championships, the World Cup, The Asian PGA, and the Philippine Open.

The Seoul International Golf and Resort Fair 2007 being held at Seoul Trade Exhibition and Convention (SETEC) has been organized by the Seoul Business Agency (SBA) and supervised by Global Bridge Korea;

The exhibition, the largest of its kind Korea, covers all related industries including golf course, golf hotels and resorts, golf design & architecture, travel agency and membership exchange.

The Korean golf market is growing at an impressive pace in recent years with annual number of 10 and 20 million golfers and visitors respectively. The numbef of golf courses is expected to top 500 by 2010

The Seoul event offers “one -stop platform” for participating companies both here and abroad to establish business relations for mutual advantage.

Certainly, their participating in the fair will provide them with satisfactory business opportunity where they can witness the changes taking place in the golf industry at once, Joseph J. Rhee, CEO of Global Bridge Korea told The Seoul Times.

In the meantime, seven of 10 hotel rooms in Manila were occupied for the whole of 2006, as more tourist arrivals boosted occupancy rates even as more hotels opened during the year, according to DoT office in Seoul..

The occupancy rate in metropolitan Manila’s 79 hotels last year averaged 71.95%, up from 71.71% in 2005 when only 68 hotels were operating, the tourism department said. The new hotels increased the number of available rooms to 14, 200 from 12,842.

The average stay was at 2.56 nights in 2006, down from the 2.58 the previous year.Tourist arrivals in 2006 hit a record 2.83 million.

source:
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