Panorama Holidays has taken steps to grow its presence beyond its home base in Malaysia, with its first full-fledged overseas office launched in Manila earlier this month.
Similar to its Malaysian outpost, the new Panorama Holidays Philippines handles inbound and outbound tours and ticketing.
Richard Vuilleumier, group managing director of Panorama Holidays, told TTG Asia: “Having an office in the Philippines will help us promote intra-ASEAN travel and allow us to control the quality of tour products and services.”
While Vuilleumier is not yet ready to reveal plans on how he intends to package the Philippines in a multi-destination regional itinerary, he said Panorama Holidays Philippines will first invest in a homegrown B2B event. World International Travel Expo, which will be held from May 15 to 17 in Manila and Cebu, will showcase sellers such as airlines, cruise companies, online and traditional travel agencies, hotels and resorts, theme parks and NTOs from across the Philippines and beyond.
Vuilleumier expects the show to attract 100 international sellers and 400 buyers.
Vuilleumier said he is also looking at turning his sales offices in Vietnam, Dubai and India into similar full-fledged entities to handle inbound, outbound and ticketing, all within the next two years.
He said: “Based on our market intelligence, we know these markets have a huge pool of upper-middle class (travellers) as well as a strong inbound potential which we want to tap.”
To succeed in growing outbound numbers from Vietnam, Dubai and India, Vuilleumier believes that “the key is in developing creative packages that will create a buzz in the marketplace”.
Meanwhile, to grow Panorama Holidays’ longhaul markets, the company will promote and sell dual destination tours covering Malaysia and Singapore and emphasising on heritage, culture and ecotourism at ITB Berlin.
