‘Promote PH in Russian social media channels’

The Russian Consulate in the Philippines will be working with the Department of Tourism (DOT) to promote Philippine tourism in Russian social media channels.

“We are working hard in increasing inbound tourists here in the Philippines, most particularly in Cebu,” said Honorary Consul to Russia Armi Lopez Garcia, in an interview on Thursday.

Garcia said the Russian Consulate and the Philippine-Russian Business Assembly will be helping the DOT through the Tourism Promotions Board to invite more Russians to visit the Philippines by tapping Russia’s social media platforms.

“We are ready to help (increase tourism arrivals to the country) through promotions,” said Garcia, adding that the Philippines needs to increase its visibility in Russia to boost arrivals and reach similar numbers of Russian tourists visiting neighboring Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.

“These countries are getting at least a million Russian (visitors), and we only get 50,000,” she said.

Big spenders

Russian tourists are considered a high potential source of tourism revenue after the United Nations World Tourism Organization in 2015 said Russia is the world’s sixth biggest outbound market. Russian tourists spend a total of $35 billion during trips abroad, according to DOT.

Boracay, Palawan, Davao and Siargao were the destinations highlighted during the Moscow International Travel and Tourism Exhibition.

But with the temporary closure of Boracay, Garcia said is it would give other players the chance to hype their own tourism destinations and offerings.

“Our island destination branding is not affected (due to Boracay’s closure) because we have over 7,000 islands. In fact, this is an opportunity for other players in other islands to show what they’ve got,” said Garcia.

The Philippines recorded almost 8,000 Russian arrivals in the first two months of the year, who spent around P188 million during their visit.

Last year, Cebu welcomed 12,428 Russian tourists, up by 30.90 percent from the the 2016 arrivals of 9,424, according to the data obtained from DOT 7. /