Philippine tourism picking up again

CEBU - The Philippines recorded some P286 billion in tourism receipts the past seven months with officials saying over 3 million foreigners visited the country from January to July.

Officials said the Department of Tourism (DOT) is targeting at least 4.8 million foreign tourists this year. “Tourism receipts from foreign and domestic visitors for 2022 amounted to P1.87 trillion showing the momentum towards the phenomenal tourism performance in the first half of 2023,” said DOT Secretary Christina Frasco.

“These numbers are only seen to grow further especially that the Philippines has now fully opened up to tourism. We’re very grateful to our President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. for prioritizing tourism in his national development agenda,” she added.

Frasco said they will further develop the country’s tourism portfolio, including English as second language, which is seen as a big come-on especially for non-English speaking markets. She said meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions, including golfing, as well as health and wellness as bright spots for tourism, especially in Central Visayas.

She said as of June 30, combined international and domestic visitor arrivals in Central Visayas reached 2.2 million and based on the DOT's latest nationwide survey for 2023, Cebu – from where Frasco hails - also ranks No. 1 in terms of the most preferred destinations among overnight travelers.

Frasco announced the construction of more tourist rest areas in addition to the ones being built in Dauis, Bohol, and in the towns of Carcar, Carmen, and Moalboal. Setting up these rest areas will compliment with the efforts to organize heritage, culture, and art caravans to offer visitors a wide array of cultural sites and destinations across the region.

“We also see that Cebu being a cradle of Christianity and Central Visayas being host to a huge number of heritage and historical sites, the national government support for the restoration and rehabilitation of these sites is absolutely necessary,” she said.

Frasco also signified the DOT's strong intent to develop the region as a cruise tourism hub. This year, four cruise ships are expected to make a port of call in various islands in Central Visayas. And in keeping with its commitment to sustainable tourism development, projects are in the pipeline for the country’s key and emerging destinations in Bohol, Siquijor, and Siargao Islands.

“We anticipate that with the policies supporting tourism under the Marcos administration, the convergences that we have had under our President’s whole-of-nation approach towards tourism development, and most importantly, our private sector’s partnership, collaboration, continued investment, and belief in the strength of the tourism industry, will allow us to adopt and occupy a more primary position in Asia and recover sooner than what is predicted. Cebu, Central Visayas, and the rest of the Philippines will exceed all expectations because there are just so many reasons to love the Philippines,” she said.

Referring to Central Visayas as a "treasure trove of dive destinations", Frasco also pointed out the need to further support diving destinations in the region and announced the DOT's upcoming Tourism Dive Dialogue in September here.

The DOT through its infrastructure arm, the Tourism Infrastructure Enterprise Zone Authority, is also eyeing the installation of hyperbaric chambers in key dive sites, including in Dumaguete, and in Daanbantayan in Cebu in 2024. (Joyce Ann Rocamora and John Rey Saavedra)