Yapak.ph: Stepping towards the future of Philippine tourism

A one-stop shop portal about the Philippines has been launched to help spread the good news about the country's tourism industry and its wonderful people.

Dubbed Yapak.ph, the portal hopes to invite travelers, especially domestic tourists, to check out new places in the country where they can enjoy their activities.

"One of the problems in local tourism right now is that the campaign is focused on inviting foreigners here. We forgot about the locals and they are bigger in number," said Diane Zoleta, founder and chief executive of Yapak.ph, during an interview at the launch of the portal at the Manila House Private Members Club at the BGC in Taguig City recently.

Diane Zoleta (right), founder and Chief Executive of Yapak.ph and Trichie De Vera, Chief Operating Officer.

Zoleta said that many establishments do not value the Filipinos as paying customers and they are more inclined to international visitors.

"If you will notice, if it's the peak of visitors, the hotels are snappy. But during lean season, they don't put much value on that just because the visitors are Filipinos," she said.

Zoleta said that Yapak.ph hopes to change all these negative impressions about Filipino visitors.

These days, Zoleta is in tandem with Trichie de Vera in running the portal into operation.

Guests attentively watch the Yapak.ph introductory video.

Yapak,ph is divided into six sections -- The Philippines, Where To Go, Things to Do, What's to Come, Facts and Trivias, and Stories to Tell.

"Our portal started two years ago. But we intend to hire more people next year because Yapak.ph is extensive. It has a wide scope," said Zoleta, who developed the idea for Yapak.ph as early seven years ago.

In 2015, Zoleta started engaging her team of advertising professionals and university students to shoot travel sites and gather local travel information.

(L-R) Neil Aguila [President, AGC Development Corp.], Ivy Samson [Vice President, Rotary Club of Makati Dasmariñas], Fred Bernardo, Lia Bernardo [Founder & CEO,Credit BPO], Inky Reyes [Senior Partner, Gordon Dario Reyes Buted Hocson Viado & Blanco Law Offices ], Kimy Suarez, Elmer Ngo [President, Mileage Asia Corp. ]

“Seven years ago, I wanted to start a Philippine travel map.  My idea was to provide free travel maps at that time, when Internet was not yet prevalent in the country. The map would encourage people to travel and walk, hence the word ‘yapak’,” said Zoleta.

The portal has identified 16 different kinds of tourism --- medical tourism, health establishments, extreme adventures, museum, sports, nightlife, Filipino heritage, social entrepreneurship, knowledge exchange, beaches, pocket parks, nature, food finds, newest spots around the block and history, culture and the arts.

"Everything you need to know about local tourism is in Yapak.ph. Other websites cater to specific kind of tourism. In Yapak.ph, everything is there already," Zoleta added.

(L-R) Mary Anne Meilly [Founder, Dine Asia ], Lulu Gorge, Ivy Samson , Sergio Boero [President, Italian Chamber of Commerce]

One of the kinds of tourism which Zoleta believes should be given attention to is the medical tourism.

"We found out that in medical tourism we are eight in the world. Can you imagine? Then we are in the Top 10 around the world. Among the local hospitals included are Asian Hospital and Makati Medical Center. If you can promote that, you don't have to go to Singapore or in the US. We have good hospital facilities here," she said.

(L-R) Grace Miso [Financial Consultant, Yapak], Trichie De Vera, Mon Catane, Mylene Abiva [President/ CEO, FELTA Multi-Media Inc.] Rey Harina [Owner, Inteco Group of Isuzu Dealerships], Bobby Ramos, Joseph Pangilinan, Tony Abad — with Trichie Crucillo de Vera, Raymond Catane, Bobby Ramos and Tony Abad.

Zoleta said that the challenge is to put more meat into Yapak.ph which she said has covered all the 81 provinces. Everything is in the portal now and what they do is just update it on a daily basis.

"We want to be known as the first tourism aggregator in the Philippines. Yapak.ph is more about the Philippines, the people and their achievements," she said. “We aim to become the nation’s most comprehensive tourism information portal unifying a wide range of data about the Philippines—from its travel destinations, local communities, culture, cuisines, events and more." ROBERT REQUINTINA














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