singapore hotel: Asean to drive growth in PHL tourism

Thứ Hai, 2 tháng 9, 2013

Asean to drive growth in PHL tourism–DOT

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Category: Top News

Published on Monday, 02 September 2013 21:43

Written by Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo / Special to the BusinessMirror

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THE number of visitors in the Philippines will likely hit 16 percent yearly after the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) integrate into one common market in 2015.

Speaking on the sidelines of the First Philippine Tourism Forum at the SMX Convention Center, Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. told reporters: “The prediction is that Asean integration will bring everyone, at least initially, a 5-percent jump in [tourism] growth [after 2015]. [This is] on top of the [current] 11-percent [visitor arrivals] growth.” This developed as the Tourism chief said the country has already reached “over 2.8 million [visitors] for January to July 2013, which means we are now growing at 11 percent [yearly].”

This means, he said, the country is “on track” to meet its target of 5.5 million visitors this year. Arrivals in the first seven months of 2012, totaled 2.5 million.

For July 2013 alone, Jimenez said arrivals were estimated at some 418,000. This was 11 percent higher than the July 2012 figure of 376,948; and a 13.26-percent increase from the June 2013 arrivals of 369,073.

“That is the highest July [figure] in history,” he said. “Obviously the momentum is already there. Are we going to cross 5 million [arrivals]? It looks like it. First time in our history that we will go over 5 million.”

The targeted 5.5 million visitors in 2013 is seen contributing P1.5 trillion in tourism receipts to the country and generating a gross value added of P748 billion, which is equivalent to 6.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

“So if by 2015 you are already at about 8 million tourists, then we will be about 7.8 percent of GDP. That’s very good. Our income will be comparable to even those claiming 24 million [visitors], because we don’t have land arrivals. We’re like Australia and Japan. When you say ‘5 million visitors,’ they arrived by air. For other countries, visitors just cross the border by land and get their passports stamped, so that’s different,” Jimenez said.

Some 107 million visitors are seen visiting Asean by 2015, with the Philippines targeting a 7.7-percent share of the pie, or about 8.2 million.

With the expected improvements in infrastructure, “visa facilitation,” and other tourism systems, the Department of Tourism chief sees the tourism-growth momentum being maintained. “Our intention is to sustain the 11-percent growth,” he said. “If we could increase it, that would be better…. Right now, the improvements [in the tourism facilitation systems] are coming in gradually; so you are seeing a gradual, steady growth [in arrivals]. The moment we have a dramatic change in our capacity, you will see a dramatic change again [in tourists]. More infrastructure and our ability to sustain demand [will also speed up tourism growth].”

While the seven-month tourism data are yet unavailable, based on the first-half performance this year, the top countries of origin for Philippine visitors from January to July remain to be South Korea, the United States, Japan, China, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, Canada, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.

As for the Asean integration in 2015, Jimenez said there will be some “integrated activities,” to promote the region as one common tourism market. “Right now, we are undertaking joint activities with Singapore and Malaysia,” he added.

One of the contributions of the Philippines to the Asean integration effort in the aspect of tourism, for instance, is being a training ground for those in the hospitality industry. “Also the Philippines is one of the countries pushing for greater openness in terms of visa regulations…not all Asean members are as open as us. We are one of the primary proponents of relaxing visa protocols. For example, people from India can now stay for 14 days in the Philippines, visa-free, if they have a visa from the US, Canada, Australia, China, Singapore, Japan and the United Kingdom. This was not possible before until we [DOT] attended to it. [The Chinese do] not arrive visa-free, but we grant them visas on arrival for tour groups. There’s always a possibility that the visa requirements for foreigners would be relaxed.”