International visitor arrivals exceed 1.7 million

Tourism arrivals in the country already hit 1.7 million to date, exceeding the target for the entire year, Tourism Secretary Maria Esperanza Christina Garcia Frasco said in a report by Manila Bulletin.

“As of today, we have already exceeded the original projections of the DOT, prior to June 30 of 1.76 million arrivals by the end of the year,” Franco said in a speech at the General Membership Meeting of the Management Association of the Philippines on Thursday, Oct. 13.

This prompted the Tourism secretary to declare that the country’s “tourism is now in the process of recovery.”

Frasco said that the country’s top five source markets include the United States, South Korea, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Frasco, however, said that while the country’s tourism is on its way to recovery, the other challenge is to find ways to strengthen the industry from ground up to “finally take the country’s well- deserved spot not only in the ASEAN but on the global stage.”

Frasco also highlighted the work her agency is doing to ensure that tourism fulfills its role as one of major economic pillars for the resurgence of the Philippines based on President Ferdinand Marcos’ vision for the tourism industry.

Frasco said the DOT has identified seven main objectives upon which to accomplish the President’s vision.

First is to improve tourism infrastructure and accessibility by building roads, bridges, improving water systems to our key and emerging destinations. The tourism infrastructure program on accessibility to tourism destination will hinge on convergence with the projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Second is to engage in a comprehensive digitalization and connectivity to ensure that there is accessibility to key and emerging destinations. This is in close coordination with the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

Third is the improvement and enhancement of the overall tourist experience in the Philippines. “The idea being we don’t want to invite our tourists to come to the Philippines only once. We want them to keep coming back and to stay longer,” she added.

Fourth, she said, is to equalize tourism promotion, product development. “We will go outside the traditional portfolio of tourism that is traditionally limited to marketing and promotion alone. And we’ll also concentrate on the full development of tourism products among our local government units all over the country,” she said.

Fifth, the diversification of the DOT portfolio through multi dimensional tourism, by exploring not only the promotion and development of destinations, but also all other components of the site destinations such as heritage culture, the arts, food and the like.

Six is to fully maximize domestic tourism in partnership with the LGUs as the countryside is still recovering from the border controls imposed during the pandemic.

Finally, the DOT aims to strengthen tourism governance by working closely with the national government, the local government and the private to stakeholders.

“We will engage on three key strategies, connectivity, convenience and equality,” said the Cebu native tourism chief.