By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo
Special to the BusinessMirror
FOREIGN visitor arrivals in the Philippines registered a robust growth in the first half of 2015, climbing almost 8 percent to 2.33 million.
Latest data from the Department of Tourism (DOT) also showed a 1.16 percent increase in tourism receipts to P111.05 billion, at pace with the agency’s P199-billion target for 2015.
DOT Secretary Ramon Jimenez underscored the importance of tourism receipts over the headcount, saying “tourism is a business, and creates employment. We’re more focused on the income and jobs that are created, rather than the nosecount. Negosyo lang.”
Jimenez, along with other DOT officials, was at the House of Representatives on Monday to defend the agency’s proposed budget of P3.61 billion for 2016. This is 44 percent higher than the P2.5 billion it received under this year’s approved appropriations. The 2016 proposed appropriations include funding for the National Parks Development Committee and the Intramuros Administration.
Although the growth in visitor arrivals in the first half was slower than the 8.5 percent recorded from January to May, DOT officials still see a spike in foreign arrivals toward the later months of the year.
DOT Spokesman and Undersecretary for Market Development Benito Bengzon Jr. told the BusinessMirror: “We expect a spike in arrivals in the second half of the year with new flights to be introduced by Philippine and foreign air carriers. It should also be noted that the last quarter of the year historically produces big numbers, especially from long-haul markets.”
The DOT has lined up a number of major tourism activities this year, dubbed as “Visit Philippines Year 2015.” These activities, coupled with high-profile events such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meetings leading up to the Apec Leaders Summit in November, are expected to attract more foreign visitors to the Philippines.
Most of the top 10 visitor markets grew substantially in the first six months, except for China, which contracted by 15.85 percent to 190,325. Despite the drop, China still remained as the fourth largest source of tourists for the Philippines.
Aside from the informal ban by the Beijing government on travels to the Philippines due to diplomatic differences over the West Philippines Sea (South China Sea), the China government also launched a crackdown on corruption and lavish lifestyles of its officials, keeping many of its high spenders at home.
But Bengzon said “the decline in Chinese arrivals has been arrested by the double-digit growth posted month-on-month in June 2015.” Arrivals from mainland China grew by 19.41 percent to 32,495 in June alone.
DOT Assistant Secretary for Tourism Development Planning Rolando Canizal added that the turnaround in the Chinese market “can be attributed to our continuing efforts to make our presence felt in the market and our work with the travel trade industry to mount more charter flights [to the Philippines].”
The South Korean market, which was tepid last year, expanded by 17.34 percent with 642,985 arrivals in the first six months.
Other double-digit increases were noted in the Taiwan market (up 27.06 percent with 84,500 arrivals); Malaysia (up 16.72 percent with 77,966 arrivals); and the United Kingdom (up 10.83 percent with 76,024 arrivals).
The other countries in the top 10 visitor markets of the Philippines also posted respectable increments.
The United States still maintained its position as the second largest visitor market, with 415,949 visitors in the first half of the year (up 6.8 percent). Japan ranked third, with 237,264 visitors (up 7.7 percent). In fifth place was Australia with 119,120 arrivals (up 6.7 percent), followed by Singapore with 92,817 arrivals (up 1.23 percent). Visitors from Canada rose 8.6 percent to 82,153; while those from Hong Kong advanced 9.3 percent to 62,785.
Overseas Filipinos, or Philippine passport holders permanently residing abroad (excluding overseas Filipino workers), grew by almost one percent to 107,087 in the first half of the year. With this market, total visitor arrivals in the country for the period rose 7.7 percent to 2.43 million.
Bengzon said: “We continue to maintain an optimum mix of source markets that will allow us to achieve both arrival and revenue targets. Through closer cooperation with the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB), we will step up our presence in key markets such as Korea, US, and Japan. Our Market Development Group, meanwhile, will continue to target priority segments in opportunity markets such as India, Russia, the Middle East, and Asean.” The TPB is the marketing arm of the DOT.
Travelers from Asia accounted for the largest arrivals in the Philippines for the first half of the year at 1.51 million for a 58-percent share.
This was followed by the Americas with 503,582 arrivals, for a 19.22-percent share; Europe with 279,282 for a 10.66-percent share; and Australasia/Pacific at 148,822 arrivals for a 5.68-percent share.