The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
The Department of Tourism (DOT) is confident international passenger arrivals could reach 12 million by 2028, before President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. ends his term.
Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco confirmed the goal is “achievable”, against a 4.8-million target for 2023.
Frasco showed DOT’s National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP) of 2023-2028 without annual targets for domestic and foreign arrivals, inbound and domestic receipts, employment, etc.. She said those targets will be revealed after the President approves the NTDP – a roadmap to transform the Philippines into a “tourism powerhouse of Asia.”
She reported 2022 was a “fruitful year” for the Philippine tourism industry; international arrivals reached 2.65 million last year, surpassing DOT’s initial target of 1.7 million foreign visitors. Last year’s international arrivals generated an estimated P214 billion in inbound receipts, exceeding the target of P155.03 billion by 38%. Some 5.2 million tourism-related jobs were created in the past year, she said, “exceeding our goal of 4.9 million in 2022.”
Frasco sees the momentum for inbound arrivals continuing as government maintains its policy of simplifying its arrival procedures in the country. International tourist arrivals reached 1.15 million as of March 15, this year. Foreign nationals accounted for 92% or 1.06 million of said arrivals, while overseas Filipinos (Philippine passport holders permanently residing abroad) accounted for the rest at 90,180, according to DOT data.
Of the total arrivals for the period, 304,601 came from South Korea; followed by 211,315 from the United States; 58,768 from Canada; 54,830 from Australia; and 49,887 from Japan. The rest of tourists came from Taiwan at 36,138; China at 33,311; the United Kingdom at 32,888; Singapore at 28,271; Malaysia at 20,434; Germany at 19,914; and France at 17,613.
Most stakeholders welcomed the DOT’s unveiling of the NTDP 2023-2028, but expected more “granular” details on how the plan’s goals will be achieved, along with its targets.
Philippine Hotel Owners Association managing director Benito C. Bengzon Jr. said, “We’re very happy that DOT has put together the NTDP for 2023-2028. As one of the stakeholders in the tourism industry, it’s important for us to have an idea of the strategic direction of the DOT. The Secretary gave a very comprehensive presentation on where Philippine tourism should go. It would be interesting to find out what the specific programs now will be, because what is going to be key, is the execution.”
For Dr. Ivan Henares, chair of the Heritage Conservation Society: “I was looking forward to listening to technical presentations about the Plan, and hopefully an actual copy of the Plan itself.”
One tourism stakeholder, who requested anonymity, also wondered about the lack of targets in the DOT’s presentation. “Yes, we already know where we came from, but where are we going?” he asked.
In her presentation, Frasco cited the many awards the Philippines and several of its key destinations received recently. However, she noted some challenges to the tourism industry; for one, the Philippines ranked 75th out of 117 economies in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Travel & Tourism Development Index 2021, slipping two places from its 2019 ranking. The Philippines also ranked sixth of eight Southeast Asian nations included in the survey, behind