France deems Phl as biggest market
The Philippines has emerged to be the biggest potential market among the Southeast Asian nations for the world's top tourist destination, France.
In an interview with reporters yesterday in Cebu City, Morab Tayebi, regional director for Southeast Asia of Atout France, the promotions arm of the French Ministry of Tourism, said potential is huge in the Filipino market.
"The Philippines has the biggest GDP (gross domestic product) growth by 7 percent. There is also a rise of middle class here," Tayebi said.
"So we believe the potential is huge. We try to work hard on this market," he added.
In 2016, he said around 70,000 Filipino tourists visited France, registering a 5-10 percent from a year ago.
France remains a global leader in tourism, with 82.5 million visitors last year.
Tayebi said the Philippines is currently WKH ¿IWK ODUJHVW PDUNHW IRU of them to visit in the next four years.
“The French travel market is prominently ¿JXULQJ RQ RXU UDGDU DV more and more tourists from that side of the world consider the Philippines as their choice of destination. And it is our goal to double these numbers in the next four years,” Teo was quoted as saying in a Philippine Star report.
In 2015, a total of 45,505 tourists from France were reported to have visited the Philippines. They also contributed $34 million in tourist receipts during the year.
France has been LGHQWL¿HG DV RQH RI WKH WRS 20 emerging markets of Philippine tourism, posting a 21.96 percent growth in the ¿UVW VHYHQ PRQWKV RI WR 35,378 arrivals from 29,007 in the same period in 2015.
The DOT would intensify its marketing strategy and further use social media to promote destinations in the Philippines to double the number of French visitors by 2020.