DOT sees more tourists from Southeast Asia

The Department of Tourism (DOT) is eyeing more arrivals from member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year.

During the ASEAN Tourism Ministers meeting in Sinagpore, Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo invited her fellow ministers to visit the Philippines following the big-ticket events expected to happen in the country this year—the staging of the 65th Miss Universe beauty pageant on Jan. 30, the third Madrid Fusion Manila on April 6 to 8, and the 6th UNWTO International Conference on Tourism Statistics.

The Philippines will host ASEAN @50 this year, where the campaign to promote ASEAN as a single and unified travel destination will be launched.

“Pursuant to the ASEAN Tourism Strategic Plan, we would like to emphasize the importance of ASEAN working assiduously to ensure that a sustainable and inclusive growth path for tourism will be achieved. We must develop programs and policies to improve the competitiveness of ASEAN as a tourist destination, and to promote ASEAN as a single destination,” Teo said in a statement.

As of November 2016, visitor arrivals from ASEAN countries account for only 7.9 percent of the total tourist arrivals in the Philippines.

“We don’t have to look far to find what we are looking for. In 2016, 115 million projected international arrivals can be attributed to the ASEAN countries”, said the tourism chief.

“Let us not forget that our neighbors, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia for instance, are considered affluent nations and major outbound travel sources,” she added.

Singapore delivered the most number of arrivals for the Philippines with 161,194 visitor arrivals, followed by Malaysia (128,077), Thailand (44,372), Indonesia (40,651), Vietnam (31, 555), Brunei (7,378) Myanmar (6,832), Cambodia (3,278) and Laos (1,112).