Domestic tourism shows brighter prospects
Rest assured that we will continue intensifying our domestic and international promotion efforts through the participation in travel fairs and expositions not only in the Philippines but also the world.
The coming 2023 is turning out to be the year for revenge travel, with domestic tourism seen to enjoy a brighter future. Tourism Secretary Maria Christina Frasco has lined up a formidable plan for the industry to recuperate from the effects of the pandemic and redeem the great glory it had reaped during the pre-pandemic state.
First of her battery of programs is the complete rollout of the Department of Tourism’s Philippine Experience Program, which was first introduced in October to herald the unique Philippine heritage and culture through the entire sphere of the tourist’s journey.
In line with this, she said her department would develop immersive culture, heritage, and arts caravans aimed at diversifying the cultural tourism product offerings of the country.
“We will also be boosting the development and promotion of our over-wintering package, highlighting our sun and beach, the Filipino wellness experience, and rich cultural immersions, among many other tourism products. This targets countries that experience the cold winter season,” she said.
Frasco said by 2023, she intends to fortify collaboration with other national government agencies and local government units in developing the country’s tourism portfolio and exemplify the Filipino brand of service excellence in showcasing the Philippines to visitors.
Regarding human resources development, she said the DoT would continue to strengthen industry training, especially on the BSE, which aims to highlight the good in the Filipino tourism profession.
“We recently set a target to train 100,000 tourism workers by 2023 — the highest we’ve ever set for the industry,” she added.
Also, Frasco revealed that the DoT, in collaboration with the Tourism Promotions Board, will also be launching a Travel App that will cater to pre-travel arrangements and during-travel concerns of tourists.
“I hope to see you when we launch this in the first quarter of next year. Likewise, with the convenience of our guests, we will also launch the Tourist Call Center and Tourist Information Centers in SM Malls in major gateways of the country so we can better address our visitors’ concerns,” she explained.
Diversified tourism
The DoT’s thrust next year is to involve stakeholders in diversifying the country’s tourism product portfolio to include Arts Tourism.
Moreover, she said the department is developing the country’s existing tourism products, including dive and marine sports tourism, education, health, and cruise tourism, food and gastronomy tourism, culture and heritage tourism, MICE (meetings, incentives, tourism, conventions, and exhibitions), and halal tourism.
“Rest assured that we will continue intensifying our domestic and international promotion efforts through the participation in travel fairs and expositions not only in the Philippines but also the world. Lastly, I will personally ensure the continuity of my Listening Tours, which have proven to help gather the most important insights from our stakeholders on the ground, with the intent of establishing an inclusive, collaborative, and consultative Tourism Department,” Frasco said.
Further, she said as they close the year with a promising trajectory, they intend to keep the momentum until 2023 and beyond, sharing that they are targeting 4.8 million foreign visitor arrivals next year.
“With optimism and the unwavering support of our President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and everyone else, your Department of Tourism will exhaust all means and do everything humanly possible to achieve, or better yet, exceed these numbers,” she said.
Fruitful six months
Accolades and commendations flooded in for the Philippines in 2023, as the country was recently chosen as one of the “World’s Best Dive Destinations, World’s Best Tourist Destinations, and Best Beach Destinations” in the World Travel Awards.
The country’s famous island destination, Boracay, was also recognized by Conde Nast Traveler 2022 Readers Choice Awards as “Top Island in Asia,”; and Palawan as “8th Top Islands in Asia,”; and the Philippines as “30th in Top Countries in the World.”
And recently, Palawan was cited as the “Most Desirable Island” in the 21st Wanderlust Travel Awards. At the same time, dive sites have also raked in international awards at Scuba Diving’s 2023 Readers’ Choice Awards by United States-based Scuba Diving Magazine.
Frasco said the department exceeded its target of 1.7 million international visitors and received 2.462 million guests as of 19 December 2022 and optimist to reach 2.5 million as the year 2022 ends.
The top 10 source markets of foreign tourist arrivals include the USA with 461,967 arrivals, South Korea (387,780), Australia (122,971), Canada (112,015), the United Kingdom (93,440), Japan (91,557), Singapore (50,964), India (49,330), Malaysia (44,357) and Vietnam (37,028).
Upon installation, Frasco instituted her listening tours to listen and empathize with tourism stakeholders and take their inputs to heart, leading to a shared understanding of Frasco and the stakeholder’s goals and the sense of urgency needed to lift the industry back to its pre-pandemic levels.
“These listening sessions with our stakeholders led to the crafting of policies and programs that, in one way or another, increased our number of arrivals leading to P149 billion or $139.3 million in estimated tourism revenue (visitor receipts) as of 20 November 2022. And for that, we thank you for inspiring us to use our ears and hearts in serving the people,” according to Frasco.