Growing importance of intra-regional travel

Marcio Favilla, the Executive Director for Operational Programs and Institutional Relations of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), highlighted the growing significance of intra-regional travel at the 6th UNWTO International Conference on Tourism Statistics being held from June 21-24, 2017 in Manila in the Philippines.

Favilla cited the phenomenal growth of Asia at 80% between Southeast Asia, China, South Korea, and Japan. He took note of the robustness and resiliency of the region through its continuing promotions.

The promotion process tells the world what these countries have to offer to the world, citing the Philippines as a prime example of a nation with “great advantage.”

Favilla said Filipinos are kind people with kind smiles who welcomes guests from all over the world, an advantage that continues to win the hearts of its neighbors.

The entire region is greatly benefiting from two revolutions: The Information Technology revolution and the Travel revolution which are sweeping across the world, and with a rising generation of tech-savvy travelers, tourism is far different today than what was before.

Countries should continue to adopt new technologies in order to take advantage of these growing opportunities, such as promotions that were once achieved through the use of flyers, are now easily done through social media.

UNWTO Regional Director for the Asia-Pacific region, Xu Jing, also added that acquiring interests from among Chinese tourists is now more readily and easily done using social media platforms instead of travel agencies.

The UNWTO International Conference on Statistics is an official event of the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development 2017, and is addressing the topic of “Measuring Sustainable Tourism.”

PHOTO (L-R): Marcio Favilla, Executive Director for Operational Programs and Institutional Relations of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) & Frederik Alegre, Assistant Secretary for the Department of Tourism in the Philippines