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| Photo courtesy of Centro Manufacturing Corp. |
Press
Release
August 8, 2012
Centro Manufacturing Corp.
Truck
body builder fills in need for new tourist shuttle
Riding
on the wave of a steadily increasing tourist arrival the last three years,
leading truck body builder Centro Manufacturing Corp. recently unveiled the
iVAN Tourister, a locally-assembled 9-seater shuttle vehicle fitted with
well-appointed interiors and amenities.
Centro
President Raphael Juan says that the rise in Philippine tourism is evident in
the growing number of tourists we encounter in the malls and the beaches,
enjoying the very best that the country has to offer.
“The new campaign of our
Department of Tourism 'It’s More Fun in the Philippines!' has spread like
wildfire. The campaign has been adopted by Filipinos here and abroad, who
themselves made their own memes on why it’s more fun in the Philippines and have
shared it through their social networks. The campaign even went viral even before
it was formally launched. This is an unprecedented feat, kudos to DOT Secretary
Ramon Jimenez and his creative team for without spending a lot of money, the
campaign was successfully spread by Filipinos themselves”.
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| Photo of tourists, by APPI. |
Juan
adds that coupled with dramatic improvements in the economy and a decisive
anti-corruption campaign, the result of all these initiatives is double digit
increases in tourist arrivals.
Data
from the DOT show that from only 3.02 million visitors in 2009, visitors grew
to 3.52 million in 2010(+16.7%) to 3.92 million (+11.3%) last year. For the
first semester of 2012alone, some 2.14 million visitors have already been
registered. This is on track towards achieving the targeted 4.6 million
visitors by yearend, a projected increase of 17.3%.
In
2011, tourism also generated $2.9 billion in revenues and jobs for3.69 million
Filipinos or about 10.2% of total employment. Top five tourist destinations are
Laguna, NCR, CamSur, Cebu and Cavite.
Juan
says that the local auto industry is happy with these encouraging developments.
“The transport sector has been factored in the overall scheme of things. One of
DOT’s strategic plans to achieve its goals is to improve market access,
connectivity and destination infrastructure. This is where tourism-grade
transport is needed. The result is that one of the top five jobs generated by
the tourism industry is passenger transport”.
“Centro
recognizes this resurgent sunrise industry and has decided to do its share to
also help the tourism industry. This is what led us to develop the iVAN Tourister,
a durable and sturdy shuttle vehicle that sits on an Isuzu NKR chassis and
seats nine people comfortably. It was designed with the tourists in mind, thus
soft-ride suspensions were used, the seats are wider and more comfortable and a
built-in audio-visual equipment with surround speakers complete the
tourist-grade ambiance”, Juan adds.
He
says that Centro saw the need for a reliable new option for tour operators and
the tourist bus industry. “The industry needed something more compact than a
bus yet bigger than an AUV. Considering the top five destinations of tourists
where the road and driving conditions may not be as good as expected, what was
needed was a tough tourist shuttle vehicle that could take on the humps and
bumps but with the comfort of a luxury microbus. The iVAN Tourister is our
answer to these needs”.
The
iVAN Tourister will be featured at the Centro booths in the upcoming 2012
Philippine International Motor Show at the World Trade Center at Pasay City
from August 16 to 20, 2012.