DoT partners with Mastercard to promote Phl destinations

The Department of Tourism (DoT) tapped Mastercard to create curated tourist experiences through data analytics as the government aims to boost tourism revenues to 20 percent of the country's gross domestic product this year.

DoT Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco and Mastercard officials formalized the partnership through a ceremonial exchange of related documents on Wednesday at the DoT Main Office in Makati City.

DoT named Mastercard as its "Preferred Tourism Partner" for marketing, digital solutions, and co-developer of tourism programs.

"Our expectations when it comes to experiences keep on changing, and we need to ensure that we are very aware of new insights to make sure that together we can meet the evolving needs of travelers, not just those who are international, but also those who are domestic," said Mastercard Senior Vice President of Customer Solutions Center for Southeast Asia Aisha Islam.

She said Mastercard will provide the government data on consumers' travel spending behaviors and travel patterns in destinations which are registering growing numbers of visitors.

Through Mastercard's Priceless online platform, travelers can learn about the unique activities and products some Philippine destinations can offer, along with exclusive perks to the payments firm's clients worldwide. Travelers can also book tourist activities on the Priceless platform.

"The plan is that we should have all 7,641 islands on our Priceless map," said Mastercard Head of Integrated Marketing and Communications for Southeast Asia Dheeraj Raina.

"Vice versa, we will also ensure that both our policies as well as programs will always be data-driven, driven by the needs of people on the ground. That can assure a type of tourism approach that is grassroots-based and therefore responsive," Frasco said.

Raina expects people to explore different parts of the country in trying foreign and Filipino cuisines and ecotourism activities amid the increasing global awareness of climate change.

"Eco-tourism is picking up as well. We are seeing people going to these smaller provinces and therefore talking about sustainable tourism," he said.

Raina added that Mastercard is boosting collaborations with the music industry to bring more people around the country.

"We are bringing a lot of international artists into the Philippines and driving the whole tour tourism with that because today people follow their famous favorite artists and just travel along with them," he said.