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| Iain Jamieson … leaps and bounds |
INBOUND spending by foreign
Visa cardholders continues to grow at a double-digit rate as the Philippines’
new tourism campaign reaches more countries.
In a chance interview, Visa
country manager for the Philippines, Guam and Northern Pacific Islands Iain Jamieson
says that a little over US$2 billion was spent on Visa cards that were issued
abroad and used in the country from August 2011 to August 2012, an expansion of
11 per cent from year-before level.
He says that the tourism
department’s “It’s more fun in the Philippines” campaign contributed to the
strong inbound spending by foreign cardholders during the period.
Philippine embassies and
consulates have been spreading the Filipino brand since its launch in January
this year.
“Inbound spending is up … I’m a
firm believer that the campaign by the Department of Tourism has something to
do with that,” the Visa chief adds.
“As more countries get to see
the campaign, more and more people are going to come,” he further adds.
According to Jamieson, Visa’s top
five largest foreign spenders as of end-August came from the United States,
Japan, South Korea, Australia and the United Kingdom.
“Everyone of those markets is
either growing very high single digit like eight to nine percent or when you’re
looking at the UK and Australian markets they are growing 20 to 30 percent year
on year in spending,” he says.
Inbound spending from foreign
Visa cardholders is expected to accelerate in the next months as the Christmas
season kicks off.
Jamieson, however, notes a slowdown
in foreigners’ spending in the country from July until the start of September
given the weather disturbances during the period.
“It comes back very strongly in
the ‘Ber’ months and in the Christmas period when more balikbayans are coming
home. The weather is extremely good at Christmastime so you’re getting a lot of
tourists coming in,” he says.
“At 11 per cent at this point
in the year, I would be very surprised if it was anything lower than 11 percent
for the full year. We might even see the numbers pick up to 13 to 14 per cent,”
Jamieson adds. - Inquirer
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