旅行会社 (travel business) in Phil

[d_southpaw]

What do you think of the idea of a travel related business in the Philippines focused mostly on Japanese tourists ?

I brought my family to Hakone a few days back - 2 haku mikka (3 days,2nights). I try to observe how the Japanese handle their tourist customers. I guess if many Filipinos are made aware of how to make customers very well satified, we can also be at that level. Or even more, because we give real warm smile.

Things that come to mind are:

1/ having Japanese language capable staff(s)
2/ having travel guides in Nihongo
3/ car/van service where the driver has or can learn a minimal travel related Nihongo skill
4/ information about the tourist spots of the region, in Japanese, where the tourists can
choose from
- places to go
- restaurants to eat
5/ staffs made aware of the needs/wants of Japanese travellers

6/ any other you can add up ??
7/ ??
8/ ??
9/ ??
10/ ??

[nokiko]

I like this idea. Regarding to the things that we should consider in the previous post, I think it is enough. The only thing that needs improvement is , maybe those statements are too general. Just add details. For example in number 5, we can add medical related things and weather information that japanese should be aware of, etc.

I also wonder why this site ( http://www.tourism.gov.ph/ ) doesnt have japanese version, though australian, korean, taiwanese, etc.. have their own versions.

;)

[d_southpaw]

Salamat sa inputs mo nokiko-san. Maganda yan, dagdagan natin ng mga details:

4/ information about the tourist spots of the region, in Japanese, where the tourists can
choose from
- places to go
- restaurants to eat
- things that are very good and unique about the places. Kumbaga sa Nihongo, yong
tinatawag nilang ' ~~ nara dewa'. Halimbawa, "Quezon province nara dewa no
matsuri - pahiyas" Quezon nara deha no su-pu - BULALO"
- weather information of the area

5/ staffs made aware of the needs/wants of Japanese travellers
- medical related things

I hope we can hear from the others.

Put it another way, if you are travelling what do you want to experience ? Brainstorming style uli tayo dito sa thread na ito. No wrong ideas. So let your imagination flowing!!

[PILIPINAS]

I fancy the idea of having a travel related business in the Philippines, focussing on Japanese tourists. Since we are living here and earned the trust of our local friends, I think this business can be profitable too. Occasion to show-off the marvelous site of our country.
"Baguio City nara dewa no ni gatsu no o-hana matsuri desu. The February Flower Festival"

Also, last week I went (was invited) to a TAI KOSHIKI massage salon, for the first time. It took three days for my friend to get a reservation. I think the Tai-jin attendants were all skillfull. Honto ni kimochi yokatta. They also served tea and some pastries to their customers. The service was satisfactory. I paid 5000 yen for one hour massage.
I wonder if we have a Filipino massage salon in Tokyo, too.

[greatbarrier]

@d_southpaw, nice idea, sir!

if you're a traveller, especially if you're a tourist, you would want to maximize your time...which means visit as many places as you can, needless to say avoid too much waiting time. so mas ok talaga if there' a detailed itinerary.

yun din napansin ko dito sa pinas, i seldom see maps or travel guides written in nipongo version. so japanese travellers/tourists are left at the mercy of their tourist guides. ok sana kung maraming alam yung tourist guide. so far, isa lang yung travel agency dito na pinapatronize ng mga japs, universal holidays, coz they have staffs who can speak the language. quite a big travel agency here.

most japanese i met, they just rely on referrals by fellow japanese or their filipino friends.

with respect to the website ng DOT, i don't think they have a budget to make the site friendly to the japanese....i guess not one of the top priority of the government when making the budget....otherwise, they can have it developed with multi-lingual accessibility.

sige sir, tuloy nyo po yan! philippines is a very beautiful country! madami na rin ditong japanese restos and stores to go to if ma-miss nila japanese stuff.

[d_southpaw]

I fancy the idea of having a travel related business in the Philippines, focussing on Japanese tourists. Since we are living here and earned the trust of our local friends, I think this business can be profitable too. Occasion to show-off the marvelous site of our country.
"Baguio City nara dewa no ni gatsu no o-hana matsuri desu. The February Flower Festival"

Also, last week I went (was invited) to a TAI KOSHIKI massage salon, for the first time. It took three days for my friend to get a reservation. I think the Tai-jin attendants were all skillfull. Honto ni kimochi yokatta. They also served tea and some pastries to their customers. The service was satisfactory. I paid 5000 yen for one hour massage.
I wonder if we have a Filipino massage salon in Tokyo, too.

Umpisahan mo na ang paghahanda, Bb Pilipinas, para makapag-ipon ka ng maraming materials na kailangan. Pati na rin capital :D

Nabanggit mo yong massage. Meron na ring maaayos/decent/professional massage services sa atin. Noong nasa Maynila ako last April, nag-avail ako nong services nila. At your own location. May shiatsu at swedish techniques sila. 500 Php per hour yata. Not sure of the price. My friend (whose place I stayed with) paid for the service, dahil nagpamasahe rin siya. Regarding those types of formal/decent services, madali lang sila turuan ng mga useful/related Japanese terms - body parts, tsikara kagen, itai, itakunai, tyoudo ii, nado nado... Wouldnt it be pleasant for the Japanese customers to hear a little Nihongo from them.

About the tai massage. Mura yong napuntahan mo. Ang souba sa medyo malapit sa downtown/biz districts ay sen yen per 10 minutes. Na-try ko na rin. Tutunog talaga ang mga buto.

[d_southpaw]

@d_southpaw, nice idea, sir!

if you're a traveller, especially if you're a tourist, you would want to maximize your time...which means visit as many places as you can, needless to say avoid too much waiting time. so mas ok talaga if there' a detailed itinerary.

yun din napansin ko dito sa pinas, i seldom see maps or travel guides written in nipongo version. so japanese travellers/tourists are left at the mercy of their tourist guides. ok sana kung maraming alam yung tourist guide. so far, isa lang yung travel agency dito na pinapatronize ng mga japs, universal holidays, coz they have staffs who can speak the language. quite a big travel agency here.

most japanese i met, they just rely on referrals by fellow japanese or their filipino friends.

with respect to the website ng DOT, i don't think they have a budget to make the site friendly to the japanese....i guess not one of the top priority of the government when making the budget....otherwise, they can have it developed with multi-lingual accessibility.

sige sir, tuloy nyo po yan! philippines is a very beautiful country! madami na rin ditong japanese restos and stores to go to if ma-miss nila japanese stuff.

Salamat sa input mo. You mentioned about maximizing time. It occurred to me: what are the things - anything: activity or product or whatever - that the tourists can do inside a car/van during traffic period. Para hindi mapansin yong traffic. A good travel guide in Japanese may be useful. Anu-ano pa kayang iba.

[PILIPINAS]

@d_southpaw

Ikaw din po, simulan ninyo nang mag-isip at mag-ipon.
Actually, few years ago, nagsama ako ng kaibigan kong Japanese sa atin. Five days lang sila but I think I impressed them by touring them around Manila, Subic and Baguio. They told me to establish a business. No financial capital involved, just purely PR. But I haven't really gave much thought about it.
About the tai massage, ang mahal-mahal naman ng napuntahan mo. Baka hindi lang massage ang service involved. (joke lang) Anyway, here's a site (http://www.shinshinkan.com/sinsinkan_menu3.htm) , to give an idea about the price.

[d_southpaw]

PR is one thing that can be done on the side, even with a full time work. Basta positive, creative, imaginative at kung anu-ano pang mga magagandang ~'tives.

Yong pinuntahan kong thai massage parlor, halos parehas lang. 5000 yen pag kai-in dyan sa pinuntahan mo, pero pag ordinary customers 6300 yen din.

[d_southpaw]

A Japanese (timog handle: budda) sent me a pm with a few information about travel in the Philippines. Apparently there are a few travel agencies - Japanese owned, Japanese operated - in the Philippines. It is a good news.

Hopefully the tourism industry in the Philippines will get better (and better).
Hope to see more of those travel agencies - including Filipino owned ones - para yong profit ay mag-i-stay sa Pilipinas.

I was also informed tha there is a travel event on September here in Tokyo, called ryokohaku. http://ryokohaku.com/top.html There will booths for Philippines as well.

Thanks budda-san for the information.