Investing in Philippine Tourism

According to the Department of Tourism (DOT), since the Philippines reopened for leisure travel this February 2022, more than 1.6 million international travelers have arrived in the Philippines.

At a Senate committee hearing, DOT Secretary Christina Frasco mentioned a total of 1,664,550 international visitors as of October 5.

Also recently, a Senate committee deliberating the ₱3.57 billion budget for the DOT for the year 2023 is to be submitted for plenary debate. The chairman of the Senate Committee on Tourism and the Committee on Finance, Subcommittee, Sen. Nancy Binay has said that they are considering DOT’s budget increase request,  “but we have to get the funds from other agencies.”

Originally, the DOT 2023 budget was only ₱12.2 billion.

In a report published by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), “Before the pandemic, the tourism industry was one of the key contributors to the sustained growth of the Philippine economy. Over the past decade, the country’s tourism direct gross value added (TDGVA)4 in current prices grew by almost five-fold.”

In the years since the pandemic began and the harsh lockdown, restrictions were imposed on the country, the tourism sector was one of the hard-hit industries. With this sector being heavily reliant on physical presence and contact, hotels, agencies, and even airlines suffered.

Aside from the industry sector providing numerous job opportunities, the tourism sector has been known to also greatly contribute to economic development, on par with OFW remittances and the BPO sector.

Travel and tourism are the sources of foreign exchange inflows in the country’s balance of payments (BOP). This industry makes up 20% of total export services which translates to sustained growth over the last decade of 15%.

With the recent opening of the economy, easing restrictions should be a priority for the government to encourage tourists to visit. By removing the unnecessary requirements about the pandemic, more would be encouraged to visit and it would mean good business for the country.

Sources: BSP, GMA, Business Mirror