The Philippines Department of Tourism has announced a year-long international campaign with leading youth tour operator, STA Travel, in order to promote and expand travel to the destination, from the 19-35 year old market.

The Marketing partnership will target six international markets including Austria, Australia, France, Germany, Switzerland and the UK, in order to meet the project objectives set out in the partnership agreement.

These include an 80-100 per cent growth in market travel to the Philippines which is up to 7,000-8,000 additional travellers in the youth market over a twelve month period.

The partnership also aims to engage customers, build awareness of youth travel in the Philippines and increase media coverage.

The campaign began in September 2014 and will run until September 2015.

Specific activities include: internal communication and education, inclusion in collateral, online and in store displays, as well as FAM trips, digital and social media.

STA Travel will launch an “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” campaign, which will engage with independent film makers who will then visit the islands and create content that capture the allures of the region.

The four films will depict Volcanoes and National Parks, Beaches, Island Hopping and Social Tourism.

STA Travel chief executive John Constable said: “At STA Travel we are always focused on discovering new and exciting destinations for our travellers and this year we sent a team of product developers out to the Philippines to find out what it had to offer.

“As a consequence, we are now delighted to be working closely with the Philippines Tourism Board to promote such an exciting destination with our brand new ideas and tours.

“For example, we are supporting an initiative called ‘Gawad Kalinga’ which invests in the regeneration of local resource to build Philippine communities.

“We are confident the Philippines will be one of our must-visit destinations for 2015.”