Dubai: An apartment, a brand-new car or a gift voucher worth nearly Dh15,000 . These are just some of the incentives being offered by a tourism agency of one Asian country, in a bid to encourage its citizens to bring home a guest.
The Philippines’ Department of Tourism (PDOT) launched in Dubai on Saturday night a program called “Bring home a friend,” which entices millions of Filipino expatriates in the UAE and the rest of the Middle East to help boost the country’s tourism industry.
The Philippines welcomed 83,546 tourists from the Middle East last year and the biggest sources of that were the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which sent 16,881 and 50,884 travellers, respectively, in 2016 alone.
As the country seeks to boost total tourism arrivals to 7 million this year, it is counting on its citizens for help.
As part of the new program, any Filipino who manages to convince a foreign colleague or friend to make the Philippines their next holiday destination, earns the chance to win a condominium unit from Megaworld Corporation.
Major prizes awaiting the sponsors also include a brand new Toyota Vios and a gift certificate worth 200,000 pesos – more than Dh14,000 based on Monday’s exchange rate.
“We would like to close the year strongly for the tourism industry in terms of visitor arrivals and carry the momentum into the coming year,” said Department of Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo.
"This shall be a thrilling experience for us Filipinos, who are known for our genuine hospitality and for celebrating Christmas for the longest time" Teo added.
To be eligible, participants need to register with the special website created for the campaign through the tourism.gov.ph website. Registration can also be done at the special booths that will be deployed in select international airports in the Philippines.
The more guests are invited, the more entries Filipinos abroad can register. The number of entries can also go up depending on the guest’s country of origin.
Those who manage to invite travellers from countries in Asia, Oceania and Australia can submit two entries, while those who can entice visitors from the Middle East, Europe and United States will get three chances of winning a grand prize.
The campaign runs from October 15 this year to April 15, 2018.
