TOURISM continues its spectacular rise as one of the country’s engines in growth, with the increasing revenue and visitor arrivals, as well as number of jobs, the sector has created.
In its one-year accomplishment report released to the media on Monday, the same day of President Duterte’s State of the Nation Address (Sona), the Department of Tourism (DOT) said, “The tourism industry has become a bright spot for the Philippine economy during the first year of the Duterte administration, with the country more than doubling its tourism revenues to P222.3 billion from July 2016 to May 2017, a 109.13-percent increase compared to P106.297 billion [in visitor] receipts during the first 11 months [July 2010 to May 2011] of the Aquino administration.”
The increase in visitor receipts, or the amount of money spent by foreign tourists in the local economy, reflects the growth in the number of tourists flocking to the Philippines. The DOT said in the first 11 months of the Duterte administration (July 2016 to May 2017), the Philippines welcomed some 5.87 million foreign visitors, a sharp 71.83-percent increase from the 3.42 million that arrived in the first 11 months of the Aquino administration.
“The yearlong tourism boom can be attributed to the government’s firm resolve in dealing with threats, creating a more secure and safe environment, and raising tourists’ confidence,” according to the DOT report.
In its one year in office, Duterte’s appointees at the DOT, led by Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo, have undertaken several major events intended to boost foreign visitor arrivals in the country.
Some of these events include the Philippines’s hosting of the 65th Miss Universe 2016 pageant in January this year, the third Madrid Fusión Manila in April, the World Street Food Congress 2017 in May, and the Sixth United Nations World Tourism Organization International Conference on Tourism Statistics in June, among others.
More foreign tourists are seen arriving in the country with its hosting of the Asean@50 meetings and other events this year, as well as the Beijing government’s commitment to send 1 million tourists.
Couple with this, the Duterte administration has embarked on a massive tourism infrastructure program, and expanded international and domestic air connectivity to open more gateways, and improve the accessibility to emerging tourist sites.
“With selfless dedication and faith in God and good old Filipino resiliency among the stakeholders, we have hurdled obstacles and surmounted setbacks. We are up for the challenge in the next five years,” Teo said in the report.
President Duterte recently approved the National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP) for 2016-2022, a blueprint that would allow his administration to increase foreign visitor arrivals to 12 million and domestic travelers to 89.2 million domestic travelers by 2022, as well as create 1.5 million more jobs for Filipinos, on top of the existing 5.2 million jobs the tourism industry currently sustains.
Under the NTDP, the DOT envisions “at least 3 million Filipinos would have been lifted from poverty because of opportunities spurred by tourism” and raising the tourism sector’s contribution to the country’s GDP to 10 percent, from the current 8 percent.
Other accomplishments by the DOT, under Teo’s watch, include:
■ Tourism cooperation pacts signed with China, Russia, Cambodia, Thailand and Turkey;
■ Making available 811,044 new seats with the opening of new air routes to secondary gateways in the country;
■ Encouraging cruise-ship companies, like Star Cruises and Royal Caribbean Cruises, to homeport in the Philippines;
■ Swifter accreditation process of tourism establishments and frontliners. The DOT has accredited 4,057 enterprises and frontliners from July 2016 to June 2017;
■ Facilitating the completion of the airport at San Vicente, Palawan, a flagship Tourism Economic Zone of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, a DOT-attached agency; and
■ The Intramuros Administration’s renovation and opening of the Postigo Nuestra Señora de Soledad, Plaza Moriones in Fort Santiago and Casa Azul within the walled city, among others.
3 comments
wala bang tourists from june 2011 to june 2016? Look at the data the article mentioned and compared – July 2016 to May 2017, and July 2010 to
May 2011.
Not a statistician here but I think there is something wrong with the interpretation of data, where’s the data from june 2011 to june 2016. You cannot say that you are responsible for the 109% increase in revenue where the data you are comparing with is 5 years old, please compare the data from last year (july 2015 to may 2016) as against your revenue from the period of june 2016 to may 2017.