All time high!!!
Economist have said it before that for a country to be
progressive, there should be a robust Tourism industry. It is one of those
pillars that adds to the Philippines Gross domestic product (GDP), as per
government records in 2015 alone, the tourism industry contributed 10.6% in the
country’s GDP.It employed 4.99 million Filipinos and the government collected
P227.62 pesos from foreign tourists.
Popular destinations among the tourists are, Palwan, Davao,
Boracay, Siargao, Cebu and Manila. *
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| file photo (photo credit to owner) |
But the government numbers for the year 2017 has just been
released, more than 6.6 million foreign tourists visited the Philippines an all
time high for the country’s tourism industry and beating the official target
which was set by the government at 6.6 million tourist arrivals.
Department of Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo said 2017
tourist arrivals jumped by 11 percent from 5.97 million in 2016.
This was higher than the average tourism growth of Asia and
the Pacific, which was at 6 percent, and Southeast Asia at 8 percent, based on
data from the latest United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) World
Tourism Barometer.
Growth came despite political noise, security concerns and
travel advisories against the country, the Tourism department said.
“We overcame these challenges with the innate resiliency of
the Filipinos and the cooperation of everybody. And for that we are very
thankful,” the DOT Sec. said.
Secretary Teo noted the country’s hosting of the Miss
Universe Pageant and the Asean Summit, Madrid Fusión Manila 2017, the World
Street Food Congress and the UNWTO International Conference on Tourism
Statistics.
“Improved air routes and more cruise calls together with
travel infrastructure development, travel facilitation, product development and
tourism investments drummed up the tourism industry last year,” Teo said. *
The country South Korea remained the country’s top source of
tourists with 1,607,821 tourists, or a quarter of the total. Boracay and Cebu
remained the top destinations for Koreans last year.
Second is China with 968,447 arrivals due to the improved
ties between the Philippines and China, added air routes and the Visa Upon
Arrival (VUA) option for Chinese nationals.
It was the most improved market with 43.3 growth, overtaking
the United States’ 957,813 arrivals at third place.
Japan and Australia wound up the top five markets with
584,180 and 259,433 arrivals respectively.
For 2018, the NTDP projected 7.4 million international
tourist arrivals.
“For this year, with an expanded marketing plan, improved
quality, human resource capacity, and service standards, we will continue to push
for new and underrated destinations. We are also looking at the farm and faith
tourism sectors.” Teo said.
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