DoT reassessing tourism income projections due to continued pandemic uncertainty

THE DEPARTMENT of Tourism (DOT) could further reduce its projections for inbound tourist arrivals and receipts as pandemic-related uncertainties persist. “We already drafted the reformulated national tourism development plan (NTDP), however we are now recalibrating again — actually it’s not a target but rather the scenario of the figures that we would like to look into because of this uncertainty,” Office of Tourism Development Planning OIC-Director Warner M. Andrada said. He said the department is still looking into uncertainties on market responses to the country’s economic outlook and travel restrictions. “We’re currently now adjusting the different scenarios that we have initially estimated in our reformulated NTDP,” Mr. Andrada said. The department will return to its consultants to project different market responses to different scenarios, he added. Tourism revenues last year dropped 83% to P81.4 billion after border closure and other pandemic-related restrictions prompted a significant decline in foreign visitors. Less than 1.5 million tourists arrived in the country in 2020, down 82% from the previous year. Preliminary data compiled by the Philippine Statistics Authority showed tourism’s direct gross value added accounted for 5.4% of gross domestic product in 2020, down from 12.8% in 2019. The initial NTDP 2016-2022 targeted P3.9 billion in total revenues and 12 million inbound tourist arrivals by 2022. —