Do you own a travel agency or are you working for one?
To be sure, travel agencies have their own ways of doing things, promoting their business, and selling their products.
Without a doubt, they must have some basis for creating the products that they offer and engaging in the business that they have invested in.
However, it pays to be data-driven, sometimes and actually most of the time, so that marketing, advertising and promotions will not only be effective but will also be efficient. In this day and age, you can and will only have an edge if you are strategic, scientific and systematic.
Below are some facts and figures derived from the results of the 2016 Household Survey on Domestic Visitors (HSDV).
The HSDV 2016, a joint project of the Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), is the fifth in the series since it started in 2005.
It is a stand-alone survey conducted on November 7 to 29, 2016, with April 1, 2016 to September 30, 2016 as the reference period.
Moreover, it is the first ever HSDV with questions translated in Filipino for fast and easy understanding.
Furthermore, it covers a sample of around 18,000 households that was deemed sufficient to produce a national estimate and city-level estimates in selected highly urbanized cities.
The 2013 Master Sample for household-based surveys was utilized, yielding estimates for the country and five NCR cities namely, the City of Manila, Quezon City, Mandaluyong City, Caloocan City, and Parañaque City.
The response rate of the sampled households was at 94.8%.
Anyway, let us check the numbers, then figure out how they can help travel agents determine their next steps and way forward.
59% of Filipinos (15 years old and over) or three out of five Filipinos traveled within the country.
This is like 59 million Filipinos. This is a lot of potential clients. Imagine just getting a 1% share of this market. That would be 590,000 people. For sure, even just getting 1% of this 1% would already be a good start. This is about 5,900 customers. If you earn just a thousand pesos per person, this is already 5.9 million. Not bad. Not bad at all. But the question is how you can attract all these people to buy your products and patronize your business. Let us see if there is anything we can learn from the other facts and figures in this survey.
99% arranged their trips independently, and less than 1% availed of at least one domestic package tour.
Oh no. This sounds like bad news. But, the truth of the matter is, this is very, very, very good news. It is not that the market for travel agents is only 1%. It is that the market for travel agents is really 99%. The challenge is just how to convince this 99%, or a portion of it, to avail of a domestic package tour instead of booking everything by themselves. Always remember the wisdom of old: nothing positive ever comes out of a negative mind. So let us look at the 99% as the market, alright? Let us proceed, then.
The median age of domestic travelers was 34 years old, with about 52% in the group of 15 to 34 years old.
Now we know our target market. 34 is our new lucky number. By and large, these are who we can call young professionals or yuppies, if this label is still being used these days. By popular definition, young professionals are those who are highly entrepreneurial, civic-minded people between the ages of 21 and 40 with a college degree. Something like that. They are young, earning, and would love to see more of the country, and even the world. Go search where they may be.
Each domestic traveler made two trips, on the average.
Okay. They may have made these trips during holidays, like summer vacations (including the Holy Week) or Christmas breaks (that period after Christmas and before New Year, and even during). But they could do more trips if we entice them enough, right? Now start planning their trips for them, so they would just book a travel or a tour from you and not need to think about the what, when, where, why and how. Do not wait for business to come to you. Bring the business to them. And make them keep on buying, more than just twice.
Female domestic travelers were higher than males, with a sex ratio of 93:100.
This is a relatively negligible or insignificant difference, given the almost proportional numbers that came out in the survey, but it does not hurt to develop gender-specific campaigns, packages and promotions. This is entirely up to you.
In select cities in the National Capital Region (NCR), including the City of Manila, Quezon City, Mandaluyong City, Caloocan City and Parañaque City, an estimated 3.4 million individuals traveled.
Wow. This is a whole lot of potential clients, especially if your travel agency is in NCR, or most especially in the aforementioned cities above. Again, imagine just getting a 1% share of this market. That would be 34,000 people. For sure, even just getting 10% of this 1% would already be a good start. This is about 3,400 customers. If you earn just a thousand pesos per person, this is already 3.4 million. Sounds good?
About 40% of the domestic visitors intended to go for pleasure or vacation, while 30% were visiting friends or relatives, and 6% went on a religious or pilgrimage trip.
Travel agents, more or less, do not really arrange for personal travels of people visiting friends or relatives, but why not? Campaigns can be developed to encourage people to visit their friends or relatives, with pleasure or vacation on the side, or even at the center. You just have to make a pitch, and make people think what they have not thought of, yet. Help bring friends and relatives together. Make them buy your products. With regards to religious or pilgrimage trips, in a country that is 90% Roman Catholic, this area of tourism is an ocean of an opportunity, especially during the Holy Week. You must start developing your Visita Iglesia tour packages in popular destinations, especially in the provinces or groups of provinces with a string of old or historical churches, and tourist sights or spots nearby.
About 50% of the travelers who went for pleasure or vacation stayed in the home of friends or relatives during their most recent trip, while about 25% opted to stay in resorts, and about 10% lodged in hotels.
Now this is not so good news for travel agents and the accommodations industry because, while the purpose of their travel was pleasure or vacation, about half still stayed in the homes of friends or relatives. But this is nothing to feel sorry about, because more than a third still went for resorts and hotels. The key is on how to persuade more of these travelers to book in resorts and hotels as well as on how to influence the non-travelers to start doing so. Well, as they say, nothing good is easy to get. Let us not waste time then. Let us begin creating a culture of travel, of tours, of tourism, of fun, and of life.
About 55% of the travelers spent on shopping spree, 42% on food and beverage, and 20% on local transport.
Never mind the figure for local transport, as that is already a given, as travelers would need to ride on something from one place to the other, while they are in the area where they went. But, hey, the numbers for food and beverage as well as shopping spree are very informative. This is now your cue to include in your tour packages or promotional materials some information about the restaurants and bars (for local delicacies and specialties and even the nightlife) as well as the shopping destinations (for either local stuff or big discounts or bargain sales). In other countries, there are specific tours dedicated only for trips to night markets or premium outlet shops, as well as to long stretches of street foods and must-try local fares. Why not here? Game?
30% of domestic travelers stayed overnight in the places they visited during their most recent trip, on an average of five nights of stay.
Five nights! Well, it is just 30%, but 30% is 30%. This is 17.7 million people. Now go ahead and develop domestic package tours good for five days, but of course consider the times or seasons of the year when people do these almost week-long trips, as well as the places or the areas where people go. Go! Go! Go!
About 40% of domestic travelers had stayed for two to three nights.
Wait, here is another great news. In addition to tour packages of five days, you should also develop, if not concentrate on, tour packages of two to three nights. These are practically the long weekends. Since the official long weekends are announced in advance, it would do well for you to plan for these ahead of time. Ready?
In select NCR cities, 75% of domestic travelers were day visitors in the places they visited.
Hmmm, this information is a gold mine. While the fact above may be safely assumed, the confirmation by the results of a scientific survey is more than enough assurance, or reassurance, that with regards to potential clients in the NCR, or at least in the select cities in the NCR covered by the survey, three out of four of travelers are fans of day trips. There are countless of destinations near NCR that are within an hour or so of land travel only. You think there is no business in day tours because people can and will just get up and go? Think again. Certainly, people would like to avail of hassle-free bookings, discounted rates, professional tips regarding hidden treasures, freebies, and even VIP treatment if you can arrange it. Definitely, there will always be a business if you are practical, creative, and innovative. Are you?
NCR was the most visited place among domestic travelers whose main purpose of travel was for pleasure or vacation.
You think it is Boracay, or some other island? Survey says no. Survey says a whole lot of people actually want to visit the concrete jungle, the tightest metropolis in the world in terms of number of people per square kilometer, the capital region of the country with one of the worst traffics in the world. Go back to your drawing boards then, and hurry. Sell the NCR. You will be surprised at how touristy NCR can be, especially for those coming from the provinces. Historical, cultural and religious sites. Food hubs, and of course the bar scene. Shopping outlets. And even malls, malls, and malls. Nobody wants to get lost, or to feel lost. Be their guide, literally or figuratively. In developing your packages and promotions, treat NCR like one of the cities abroad that you are offering to your clients. Then, and only then, will you able to develop something for NCR, and sell it.
The other top destinations were the provinces of Negros Occidental, Pangasinan, Cavite, Quezon, Bohol, Cebu, Camarines Sur, Laguna, and Leyte.
And the list of nine provinces above completes the top 10, the NCR being the number one. Back to the conference room? Surely, you have ready packages and promotions already. What you can just do is to highlight these areas in your marketing and advertising. Or, if there are some places or areas on the list where you do not have any, it is time to produce one, or more. At this point, you already have enough tips from the results of the survey. Could there be more?
For households in select NCR cities, the most visited places were the provinces of Laguna, Cavite, Rizal, Bulacan, Batangas, Benguet, Zambales, Pangasinan, and Quezon.
Here we go. These are very area-specific pieces of information. To reiterate, an estimated 3.4 million people in the select NCR cities (the City of Manila, Quezon City, Mandaluyong City, Caloocan City and Parañaque City) traveled. Now you know where they did. Now you know what to sell to whom. Now you can improve the performance of your business by knowing, then acting on the knowledge. Knowledge can only give you direction. Action is what will make you reach your destination, complete your journey, and reach the end with a smile.
Christmas Day (49%) topped the list of long weekend holidays in the past 12 months preceding the survey period, followed by All Saints’ Day (40.7%) and Holy Week (27.6%).
These are just points to ponder on, but they are basically common knowledge already. In any case, at least now you have the numbers to support what is already publicly accepted.
About 245,000 Filipinos (15 years old and over) traveled outside the country.
Did any of these 245,000 people engage your services? Maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps. Perhaps not. This does not matter now. What matters is that the figure is only from the period of April 1, 2016 to September 30, 2016, or a total of six months, last year. This year, and in the coming years, the number will surely increase, and may you be able to get a large chunk, by choice, and not by chance. So work, work, and work.
About 19% of the outbound travelers came from the select NCR cities.
This is almost 47,000 people coming from only five out of the 17 cities in NCR. There should be thousands more out there from NCR who will go abroad. Go find them. Go get them.
The median age of outbound travelers was 45 and 20% of them belonged in both the 35 to 44 and 55 to 64 age groups.
Now the age range is very noticeable. When the median age for domestic travelers was 34, and mostly from the 15-34 age range, the median age for outbound travelers is 45, which is 11 years older. This, of course, is understandable, as international travel is obviously more expensive than local travel and, equally understandable, is the fact that older people have generally more money, more time and more chances. In any case, the value of this information is that, when engaged in marketing and advertising for foreign trips, tours and travels, it is valuable to know that the target market is of an older age range, so proper adjustments could and would be accordingly made.
China, including Hong Kong, was the top country visited among outbound travelers with an estimated share of 28.1%, followed by Malaysia (10.7%), Japan (9.7%), USA (9.5%), and Singapore (8.3%).
But wait, there is more, more, more. Now you know where most outbound travelers went. Of course, you can still try to sell other destinations in the ASEAN or in Europe, but here are the top five countries that Filipinos visited, with China and Hong Kong counted as one, but you can always treat China, Hong Kong, and even Macau, separately, in your respective packages and promotions.
Whew! Was that long? That was long. But this is the way to go.
Editor’s Note: The author is the Senior Vice President for Government Affairs of ISTRATEHIYA (www.istratehiya.com), a one stop shop for all strategic communications and political operations requirements, whether for government or corporate affairs, or for elections purposes.