South Koreans are back!

LAPU-LAPU CITY - South Korea is again the Philippines' top source of foreign visitors so far this year, according to Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco.

Frasco - who led officials in welcoming some 300 holidaymakers at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport - said the South Koreans were members of the UNICITY, a direct selling company on health functional foods, cosmetics and household items and with over 60 markets globally.  

She said data from the Department of Tourism showed a significant increase in Korean arrivals since last year with 428,014 or a 16.13% of the country’s arrivals between Feb. 10 - when the country eased its borders for leisure travelers - up until Dec. 31, 2022.  

“The good news is that as of today, we have over 1.5 million tourist arrivals to the Philippines and our number one top source market is the Koreans. So we're very grateful to our friends from Korea for continuing to show their love for the Philippines as they have come back in droves, and the UNICITY group in particular, has come with a delegation of no less than 1,400 people,” Frasco said.  

Upon their arrival, the Korean travelers were welcomed with leis and performances by rondalla serenaders as well as by Sinulog dancers.  

Prior to the pandemic, Korea ranked number one in terms of visitor arrivals to the Philippines, with 1,989,322 or 24.08 percent of the country’s total number of arrivals for 2019. Arrivals from Korea declined dramatically during the pandemic, dropping to 338,877 and 6,456, for 2020 and 2021, respectively.  

“They’re coming on a daily basis and the numbers are increasing by the day. Last year, they were at number two, because it is the United States that [provided] our number one top source market. But this year, the Koreans have reclaimed the number one spot and we send out the message to all our friends in Korea, that you are more than welcome to keep coming back again and again to Cebu, Bohol, Palawan, and the rest of our beautiful islands in the Philippines,” Frasco said.  

MICE destination  

Frasco noted that the arrival of a delegation as big as the UNICITY group is a welcome development especially with the DOT “seeing MICE tourism become a very strong product for the Philippines and also for Cebu.”    

MICE refers to ‘meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions’ tourism. Ir is a type of tourism in which large groups, usually planned well in advance, are brought together. Recently there has been an industry trend toward using the term "meetings industry" to avoid confusion from the acronym.

“They are staying for a few days and we expect that this will contribute greatly to the economy of Cebu in particular, and to the rest of the country in general, considering the multiplier effect of tourism is really so that they will support our local tourism stakeholders, our small and medium enterprises, and the like,” Frasco said.  

To further boost the Korean tourism source market and visitor arrivals, the DOT, through its office in Korea, carries out marketing initiatives including an online presentation to educate the MICE players in the Philippines about the Korean MICE market, as well as participation to upcoming key events such as business-to-business fairs, and a MICE roadshow.  

“We're certainly also pitching for Bohol as an attractive island tourism destination in Central Visayas, especially considering the variety of offerings that Bohol has especially in terms of nature-based tourism as well as pilgrimage and heritage tourism,” she said. (Cebu Examiner)