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Tourism
Prospects in the Philippines
International visitor arrivals to the Philippines are
expected to increase by 8 to 10 percent in 2007, according
to Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano.
Such growth forecast would match the 8.4 percent increase
in arrivals in 2006, which was a record year for tourism,
Durano added.
Data show that the number of foreign guests who visited
Philippine destinations reached a record high of 2.84
million last year, up from 2.62 million in 2005. The
2006 figure, however, was below the Department of Tourism’s
target of 3 million foreign tourists for the year.
Originally, the government was targeting to draw 3 million
visitors in 2006, 3.4 million in 2007, 3.88 million
in 2008, 4.42 million in 2009 and 5 million in 2010.
Sources in the DOT, however, said the specific arrival
targets for 2007 to 2009 were dropped after missing
the 2006 target. But just the same, they said, the goal
is to attract 5 million visitors by 2010.
Despite the increase in arrivals in 2006, the country's
tourism receipts from the entry of foreign tourists,
fell 6.9 percent year-on-year in 2006 based on constant
1985 prices. At current prices, travel exports went
down 1.1 percent to PhP120.874 billion in 2006 from
PhP122.242 billion in 2005.
National Statistical Coordination Board secretary general
Romulo Virola linked this to the strong peso, whose
appreciation against the US dollar reduced the growth
of the peso value of foreign inflows such as tourism
receipts.
Just the same, Durano described 2006 as a good year
for Philippine tourism and said prospects for 2007 are
even better, with the expected completion of new resorts
and accommodation facilities that will bring the total
number of hotel rooms to about 18,000 by yearend.
The hotel and restaurant sector expanded 6.1 percent
year-on-year in 2006. At current prices, the sector's
contribution to the economy grew 10.6 percent to P106.029
billion in 2006 from P95.851 billion in 2005.
Employment in hotels and restaurants grew by more than
42,000 jobs or 2.6 percent to 913,000 as of October
2006 from just 871,000 a year ago.
Durano said the passage of a P1.5 billion budget for
DOT in 2007 and the expected enactment of the Tourism
Bill will be good for the industry.
"Congress, both the House of Representatives and
the Senate, is doing its part to contribute to the president's
10-point agenda, which includes tourism development
as a means to accelerate employment generation. They
have shown this not only through the Tourism Bill, which
both chambers filed with their respective versions,
but also through the bigger allocation for DOT in the
2007 national budget," he said.
Senator Richard Gordon, the main proponent of the Tourism
Bill in the upper chamber, said tourism means jobs for
Filipino people.
"The industry has an immense impact on an economy.
Every foreign tourist spends 50,000 pesos in shopping,
eating, touring and staying at resorts. On an average
year, 2.6 million foreign tourists give our economy
P130 billion. That P130 billion generates jobs across
the board, from the ordinary street vendor to the hotel
magnate," Gordon said. Roderick T. dela Cruz
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