INDIAN travelers are considering the Philippines as their next tourist destination.

According to Ramesh Saminemi, country manager of Via.com, a travel solutions provider, there is a group of travelers from India who are seeking for a new tourist destination.

“We are looking at the Philippines as one of the tourist destinations of India,” Saminemi told reporters at the sideline of the launching of Via.com and Southeast Asian Airlines (SEAIR) partnership.

According to the data from the Department of Tourism, the Indian market generated 38,108 tourists for the first ten months of 2012, posting an 8.18 percent growth over the same period last year.

Tourism Assistant Secretary Benito Bengzon Jr. earlier said that the government is eyeing to increase the number of Indian tourists visiting the country, adding that India is a vast source of potential travelers. The department is projecting a 50-million outbound travels by 2020.

The expected increase of Indian tourist arrivals could be attributed to the recent implementation of the 14-day visa-free entry facility for Indian tourists.

He said that India is one of the fastest growing outbound travel markets in the world with 12.5 million trips made abroad in 2010 and they mostly prefer destinations with good air connectivity and easy entry procedures.