The Philippines targets young travellers with STA

STA Travel has signed a new agreement that will see it promote the Philippines as a destination for young travellers.

The marketing deal, which was signed with the Philippines Department of Tourism, will see STA promote the Southeast Asian country in the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France and Australia.

As part of the ongoing ‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines’ campaign, four independent filmmakers will travel to the Philippines with the aim of capturing the country’s main visitor pull factors, including volcanoes, national parks, beaches, island hopping and social tourism.

“At STA Travel we are always focused on discovering new and exciting destinations for our travellers and this year we sent a team of product developers out to the Philippines to find out what it had to offer,” said STA’s CEO, John Constable.

“As a consequence, we are now delighted to be working so closely with the Philippine Tourism Board to promote such an exciting destination with our brand new ideas and tours. For example, we are supporting an initiative called ‘Gawad Kalinga’ which invests in the regeneration of local resource to build Philippine communities. The Philippines is one of our must-visit destinations for 2015.”

The Philippines’ Department of Tourism’s chief operating officer, Domingo Ramon C Enerio III, commented that “improvement in infrastructure… [and] numerous value-for-money options” would make the Philippines a tempting option for young travellers.

“In addition, we have a number of off-the-beaten-track and non-traditional offerings across the islands that are certainly of interest to this market,” he added.

The move is timely; backpacker bible Lonely Planet recently named the Philippines as one of its ‘Top Countries to Visit’ for 2015.
Under the ‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines’ campaign, the country is aiming to welcome 10 million international visitors by 2016.