PH Tourism Increased in Q2

Based on the findings of UK-think tank, Pantheon Macroeconomics, Tourism across the Asean region, including the Philippines. This comes as economies continue to reopen despite the risks of the pandemic.

“The recovery in tourism in the ASEAN gathered pace in the second quarter, as the region moved on quickly from sharp but short outbreaks of Omicron earlier this year, ” said Mr. Miguel Chanco, Pantheon Macroeconomic’s Chief Emerging Asia Economist in the report.

According to Chanco, the very stern pandemic restrictions regarding borders have been dropped almost simultaneously, beginning with the full reopening of the Philippines last February, up to the most recent Thailand opening last May. Thailand removed required on-arrival tests and quarantines for visitors that are vaccinated.

For the Philippines, Chanco mentioned that tourist arrivals from other countries increased by as much as 866% from April to June compared to Q1 arrivals. For Q1, foreign visitors went up by 185% quarter on quarter.

Chanco says that across ASEAN, “the scope for catchup in the second half of 2022 is still immense, even though huge intra-regional disparities are emerging,”

According to Chanco, Vietnam and the Philippines outpaces the tourism arrival growth of Thailand and Indonesia.

“The big picture advises us not to get carried away by the Philippines’ outperformance and not to be disheartened about Thailand’s underperformance. Remember that the Philippines had one of the smallest ASEAN tourism industries in the pre-COVID-19 era, with visitors totaling just eight million in 2019, while Thailand was in a world of its own, at 40 million,” he adds.

Source: Inquirer