Most local tourists are planning to go on short road trips to hotels and resorts near Metro Manila as a breather amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic based on a recently concluded month-long online travel sale of a hotel marketing group.
The Hotel Sales and Marketing Association (HSMA) Philippines said over 5,000 travel vouchers have been sold during its September Online Sale (SOS) which suggested the continuous revival of the country's tourism industry.
Benjie Martinez, HSMA President and Area Director of Sales & Marketing for Bayleaf Hotels, said the event's voucher sales increased by 194 percent while gross sales shot up by almost 101 percent from P14.5 million in 2020 to P29.23 million this year.
"These figures also demonstrate Filipinos’ continued support for local travel and tourism as the industry starts to get back on its feet," Martinez added.
According to HSMA, the majority of voucher buyers are from Quezon City, Manila, and Cebu, while the Batangas, Cavite, Tagaytay, and Laguna cluster sold the highest number of vouchers at 32 percent.
It was followed by Boracay/Iloilo at 23 percent; Manila/Pasay/Parañaque at 14 percent; Clark/Bataan/Ilocos/Banaue at 12 percent; and Cebu/Bohol at nine percent.
At least five percent of the travelers plan to visit hotels and resorts in Palawan/Davao; three percent to Makati/BGC/Alabang; and two percent to Ortigas/Pasig/Quezon City.
Some 80 HSMA member hotels and resorts in the country's key destinations joined the second run of the September Online Sale which offered as much as 70 percent discount on travel packages.
Among the top grossers during the month-long travel mart include Twin Lakes Tagaytay, Clark Marriott Hotel, Conrad Hotel Manila, Okada Manila, and Acuaverde Beach Resort.
Meanwhile, Martinez shared that five of their top 20 bestselling properties are located in Boracay.
"We would like to send our deepest appreciation to all the SOS participants for all their support and involvement in our second sale. Their compelling and creative promos attracted more buyers, and the overwhelming results inspire us to do even better in all the projects that we are planning for in the future," Martinez said.
"By boosting domestic tourism income, we can be one of the main drivers of economic recovery," he added.
This year's September Online Sale was held from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 by HSMA in partnership with the Department of Tourism, Tourism Promotions Board, Atlantis, iSentia, and Cebu Pacific.
The pandemic-borne online travel deals fair aims to help improve the situation of over five million tourism workers whose jobs and income have been greatly affected by the ongoing health crisis.