The leisure of business in the Philippines

Extend your business trip, meetings venue and fabulous tourism

Business travel often ignores the “travel” part of it. Burdened with deadlines, presentations and cross-cultural communication, the business traveller is left either tired or uninterested as the trip comes to a close. Typically, it entails classy suits and briefcases, first class travel, arrival, hotel living, meetings, more meetings, after-meeting meetings, some shopping and before the charm of the city can even set in, departure. It’s more business than it is travel. Viewing travel like a businessman isn’t exactly wrong, but there is a reason why it’s called business travel. “Travel” wasn’t attached to it just to imply that the meetings were to take place elsewhere, nor does it imply just a means to a business end.

The Philippines Department of Tourism and the Department of Trade and Industries are working together to promote business travel in the true sense of the term. The partnership embodies the new wave/trend of business travel, which is essentially to make the most of one’s time while on a business trip. The partnership is keen on getting the business traveller out to explore more than their usual business terrain.

The Philippines is an ideal destination to combine business and leisure with the many world class resources you can find, both in terms of business and in terms of travel. Abundant with unique opportunities for the business traveller, the Philippines is definitely a hot spot both for travel and business.

World Class

The Philippines is home to world class resources, both in business and tourism. The country offers excellent labour and infrastructure standards with paradise as its backdrop. Choices are abundant in the Philippines – choose from the 7,107 islands that cater to various interests, from bird watching to eco-tourism to scuba diving. An archipelago of immense possibilities when it comes to tourism – nature, adventure and culture that go beyond the usual is what the tourism office promises and that’s exactly what you get. Relax at the pristine beaches, find profound moments in the mountains, get a thrill out of white-water rafting, swim with whale sharks, uncover cultural gems whilst interacting with local indigenous tribes and finally, immerse in the warmth of the people.

In terms of business, meeting world class standards is not an issue at all with the eight million Filipinos living and working abroad as engineers, architects, doctors, nurses, accountants, IT professionals, construction workers, domestic help and technicians. The Philippines is now the Southeast Asia market leader and, along with India and China, one of the tops countries providing IT-BPO services globally. It for this reason, that the National Outsourcing Association of the UK named the Philippines as the best IT-BPO destination in the world for the year 2007.

From the Philippines, companies have found that they are able to service customers or their own operations anywhere in the world. Currently, services from the Philippines reach customers, employees and management in countries such as Australia, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, UAE, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam.

Natural Resources

Dubbed as a “natural treasure” the Philippines Department of Tourism is actively promoting the country as a haven for nature lovers. The country’s bio-diversity is perhaps the country’s greatest wealth, being amongst the top five in the world. Most recently, a tourism campaign has specifically focused on bird watching since there are over 600 species, 200 of which are only found in the Philippines.

From the city centre, it is easy to escape to the natural wonders of the country. In just an hour or two by car, business travellers can find themselves in the peaceful farmlands, hillsides and animal sanctuaries. For those with more time, a quick plane ride can take you to powder sand beaches, an underwater cosmos or even out-of-this-world festivals.

On the business side of things, the country boasts of large-scale people resources, with approximately half a million English speaking students graduating at university level yearly and the highest literacy rates in Asia. The Filipino skilled labour force has its strength in communication, interpersonal skills, customer-service orientation and problem-solving abilities. This is the reason why the IT-BPO industry is a flourishing one in the country. There is also growth in other industries such as manufacturing (automotive parts), food processing, electronics, textiles and garments. Moreover, the mining industry has been seeing a lot of growth being the biggest copper producer in Southeast Asia and among the top ten producers of gold in the world.

Sustainability

The Philippines Department of Tourism (PDOT) is constantly campaigning for the preservation and protection of the environment. In line with their most recent bird watching campaign in the UK, the office signed a partnership with the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT)as a patron. With this new partnership, the Office of Tourism is looking forward to new conservation and development projects with the environmental experts from WWT. Being a patron of the trust, the PDOT plans to use the WWT as a major resource in upcoming development plans for wetlands in the Philippines, ranging from the business aspect of it to the conservation.

Global companies are realizing more and more that their operations in the Philippines add value to their core businesses in several industry verticals such as banking and insurance, telecommunications, the public sector, utilities, health care, high-tech industries, oil and gas, consumer products, publishing, design, education and entertainment.

Industry stakeholders, including the Philippine Government, have put in place and will continue to strengthen programmes to support the industry. These programmes ensure that first, the supply of talent for the industry aptly meets the demand in terms of both size and quantity. Second, the programmes will make sure that the regulatory environment remains attractive to investors and will facilitate rather than impede business operations. Third, these programmes will see to it that high-standard infrastructure is installed in several parts of the country and is ready when needed. And lastly, these efforts are to ensure that services provided from the Philippines continue to add value to investors in terms of quality and cost.

The Philippines is definitely set for the new wave of business travel as they turn businessmen into travellers as well. Take a step beyond your usual business dealings, and find that it is so easy when you’re in the Philippines. Discover the bounty of the 7107 islands by extending your next business trip or simply by making it your next holiday destination.

To find out more about the opportunities that the Philippines has to offer, contact:
Business Processing Association of the Philippines www.bpap.org

The Philippine Embassy, 6-8 Suffolk Street, London SW1Y 4HG
E: (Commercial) dtilondon1@aol.com or pticlondonuk@aol.com
E: (Tourism) infotourism@wowphilippines.co.uk

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