Taipei, June 8 (CNA) The Philippines government is rolling out a series of promotions in the hope of attracting more Taiwanese tourists, an official from the Philippine Department of Tourism said on the sidelines of a Philippines travel guide launch ceremony Friday.
"We will try to present various tour packages to attract different types of Taiwanese tourists. Some of them visit the Philippines purely for sightseeing, while some come to play golf, " said Ireneo H. Reyes, Senior Tourism Operation Officer of the Department of Tourism.
Reyes estimated that more than 100,000 Taiwanese tourists visited the Philippines last year. The latest statistics from this year show a 7 percent increase in the number of tourists from the same period of last year, he said, adding that the bureau is expecting a record-breaking year in 2007.
However, there should be a lot more Taiwanese tourists visiting the Philippines, he said, adding that the low number of tourists is due to Taiwanese lack of understanding about its closest neighbor to the south.
The Manila Economic and Cultural Office collaborated with the China Times Publishing Company to publish the Chinese-language guide titled Inside Guide: Philippines. "We hope that the readers will gain a better understanding of Filipinos," he said.
The book contains features on Philippine history, culture, traditions, faith, way of life and other information collected by the Discovery Channel and Inside Guides -- two of the world's best information providers, he said.
Reyes noted that some of Taiwan's media reports have brought the Philippines a lot of negative publicity and have affected Taiwanese people's views of the Southeast Asian country.