Illegal Korean agencies in the Philippines
Contributors are not employed, compensated or governed by TD, opinions and statements are from the contributor directly
Travel agents in the Philippines are up in arms over illegal Korean travel agencies operating in the country, accusing them of siphoning off business.
According to a report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA) said the industry loses millions of pesos in earnings to such illegal Korean firms which had sprouted all over Manila in the past two years.
The country has become more popular with Koreans, prompting the rise of such illegal agencies which the report said operated out of hotel rooms, condominium units and residential units.
In a statement, PTAA Vice President, John Paul Cabalza, was quoted saying that unregistered Korean travel agencies robbed them of as much as PHP30 million (US$621,650) in earnings last year.
“Our modest estimate would have each of the 600,000 Korean tourists who came last year spending at least PHP1,000 to whichever destination in the country they went. A profit margin of 5-10% from them would have done a lot to legally operating travel agencies.”
He was quoted saying that these unlicensed agencies were taking advantage of the fact that many of their fellow Koreans could neither speak nor understand English and charged them exorbitant rates.
Comments are closed.