PSA data outlines extent of damage wrought by virus on PHL economy

PRIOR to the onslaught of the coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, the tourism sector was one of the pillars of the local economy, according to data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Based on the Philippine Tourism Satellite Accounts (PTSA), the average share of tourism to gross domestic product (GDP) is 7.4 percent between 2000 and 2018.

This was largely due to domestic tourism expenditures which posted the highest average growth at 17.8 percent.

“[The] PTSA was revised following the Overall Revision and Rebasing [ORR] of the Philippine System of National Accounts. The PTSA revised series spans the period 2000 to 2018,” PSA said.

Data showed that between 2000 and 2018, domestic tourism expenditures peaked in 2010 with a growth of 35.1 percent to P609.155 billion from P450.559 billion in 2009.

Foreign tourists or inbound tourism, meanwhile, posted an average growth of 9.7 percent between 2000 and 2018. Outbound tourism growth also increased by an average of 9.4 percent.

“In 2018, the main contributors to domestic tourism expenditure growth are Accommodation Services for Visitors, Miscellaneous, and Country-specific Tourism Characteristic Services with 21.6 percent, 21.1 percent, and 19.4 percent growth, respectively,” PSA said.

Meanwhile, PSA said the share of tourism to total employment was at 11.1 percent. The highest share to total employment of the tourism sector was in 2017 with 13.1 percent of total employment.

In 2018, there were 5.4 million employed persons in various tourism industries. Passenger transport employed the most number of tourism workers at 2.05 million followed by accommodation and food and beverage at 1.729 million.

In May, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) and the Department of Finance (DOF) shared the results of a survey they conducted to measure the impact of the pandemic, which included tourism.

In terms of income, the survey results showed the industry that was most affected by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) regime were in the arts, entertainment, and recreation sector which saw sales decline by 82.3 percent.

It is estimated that 18,661 firms in the sector were closed due to the ECQ and only 1,874 firms were open during lockdown. It is expected that the firms in this sector will be closed for nine months this year.

This was followed by tourism which saw revenues plunge 81.9 percent with 29,147 firms closed during the ECQ and only 2,686 firms were closed during the lockdown. It is also expected that firms in this sector will remain closed for nine months this year.

In terms of job losses in the top 10 hardest hit sectors, the construction and education sectors were the most affected with 689,974 and 130,514 jobs lost, respectively.

This was followed by the repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, tourism, and finance and insurance activities which recorded 74,758; 51,446, and 41,027 job losses during ECQ, respectively.