“To take the road less traveled and make a difference.”

United Tourist Promotions (UTP), the leading mapmaker in the Philippines, derives its inspiration from by this immortal line from 1916 inspirational poem by Robert Frost.

For more than a decade, UTP has been taking the roads less and frequently traveled, mapping them to help make a difference in the lives of travelers. The rag tag team was formed by Filipino graphic designer and civic leader, Ariel D. Jersey with the aid of foreigners when they saw the dearth of quality maps and travel brochures in areas with large concentrations of tourists and expatriates.

The young firm received its baptism of fire when it was commissioned by the Department of Tourism (DOT) to produce a series of 60 promotional brochures titled “Best of the Islands” in 1994 in time for the Miss Universe Beauty Pageant in Manila. This was followed in 1996 by another project from the Philippine Convention and Visitors' Corporation (PCVC) to produce tourist and street maps of the country's key destinations for delegates of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

Boosted by this vote of confidence from government's tourism bodies, UTP began developing its own series of publications in 1997 under the brand name EZ Maps®, a handy pocket map which initially covered the major business districts in the metropolis—Manila, Makati and Quezon City-Ortigas.

In 1999, UTP published the EZ Philippines Travel Atlas®, the country's most definitive road map and the only one of its kind in the market. Supported by the DOT and its regional offices, the publication featured comprehensive up-to-date information on the country's 16 regions, with detailed city street maps, useful contact information and specialty maps showing festivals, historical spots and religious sites. The Atlas is now on its third edition. Using distinctive, colorful and easy-to-understand layouts, and reasonable pricing, EZ Maps® has captured the market and has become the Philippines' best-selling maps series.

To date, UTP has produced 50 EZ Map® titles, one travel atlas (Philippines Travel Atlas) and two road atlases (Luzon and Visayas), a children's travel activity book “Ferdie the Frog”, and two laminated wall maps—all of which are regularly updated. In addition, UTP also published the EZ Metro Manila Street Guide® and EZ Metro Cebu Street Guide®, the most comprehensive street maps of the bustling Manila and Cebu metropolitan areas.

Headquartered in Angeles City with a branch office in Manila, UTP is committed to creating world-class quality travel publications of the Philippines in cooperation with the DOT. Because of its track record in mapmaking, UTP has been commissioned by DOT regional offices to produce its regional and provincial maps.

As part of expanding its products, UTP recently ventured into digital large format printing of customized maps for key clients such as Nestle Philippines, Phoenix Gas Corporation, LBC, Chowking, the DOT, and selected provincial governments.

UTP's trailblazing effort has not gone unnoticed. In 2007, its publisher and founder Ariel Jersey was named Most Inspiring Tourism Entrepreneur by the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship under the Office of the President. Along with other tourism enterprisers, he was given the award by President Gloria Macapgal-Arroyo and Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Jose Concepcion III for pioneering the tourist map industry in the country.

Moreover, the firm was awarded in 2008 the Best Web Site category and the First Runner-Up in the Free International Map Publication Category by the Texas-based International Mapmakers Trade Association (IMTA) for its user-friendly web features.

EZ Maps® travel publications are available at more than 800 retail outlets nationwide such as airports, seaports, gas service stations, hotel shops, magazine shops, National Book Stores, Powerbooks and Travel Café outlets.

“Making travel nice and easy…”