ARRIVALS DOWN 76%, BUT TRAVEL FAIR NETS BUYERS

INTERNATIONAL tourist arrivals fell by a whopping 76.3 percent to some 1.32 million in January to August this year, as travel restrictions in the Philippines and around the world continued to prevent the movement of travelers. Data from the Department of Tourism (DOT), a copy of which was obtained by the Businessmirror, similarly showed inbound visitor receipts slumping by 75.2 percent to P81.05 billion. The arrivals were computed based on reports by the Bureau of Immigration, according to the DOT. The visitor receipts for 2019 were based on DOT’S Visitor Sample Survey, and were used to provisionally compute this year’s figures.

Despite these dire numbers, interest in the Philippines as a tourism destination appears to have been sustained, as 124 buyers from around the world are joining this year’s Philippine Travel Exchange (Phitex 2020), the largest government-organized travel trade event in the country.

Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) Chief Operating Officer Maria Anthonette Velasco-allones said in a virtual presser on Wednesday, “Many of the buyers, surprisingly, are from opportunity markets” and nontraditional markets such as Brazil, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Kazakhstan, the Czech Republic, Israel, Kenya, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Turkey, among others.

The largest group of buyers, as per her presentation, are from key markets such as Indonesia (13), China (9), South Korea (9), Russia (9), the United States (9), and the United Kingdom (8).

Phitex, to be held from September 22 to 24, will be conducted on a hybrid mode, with most international buyers attending virtually and sellers presenting their proposed tours and packages in online meetings from Panglao, Bohol, the host of this year’s event. There are 161 confirmed sellers from Albay, Baguio, Batanes, Batangas, Bohol, Boracay, Cagayan de Oro, Camarines Sur, Cavite, Clark, Cebu, Davao, Ilocos Sur, Iloilo, La Union, Laguna, Manila, Masbate, Palawan, Tagaytay, Rizal, Samar, Sorsogon, Zambales and Zamboanga, the bulk of which are hotels and resorts (92) and tour operators (63).

At the same presser, Bohol Gov. Arthur Yap likened Phitex to a test case for the province, in preparation for his “bubble within a bubble” travel program, where Panglao will reopen to tourists from the rest of the Bohol first, before the rest of the Philippines. He added, a study showed Panglao’s carrying capacity is “3,000 people every day.”

At present, the new Panglao International Airport is open only to sweeper flights bringing in residents that had been stranded elsewhere in the Philippines. “But we don’t see any reason to open and ask for commercial flights at this point,” he stressed, as the province prepares for reopening by first certifying tourism establishments under his government’s Unique Bohol Experience (Ube) program, and still tightening its health and safety protocols for visitors. In fact, those physically attending Phitex in Panglao will have to undergo quarantine first and take an RT-PCR Covid test, such that most will be staying 10 days, even if Phitex is just for three days.

“We want to make sure that our tourists visit those areas that are safe, and our local constituents would also be seen as having cared for the visitors,” he added. “It’s easy to ramp up [tourist] numbers and to do projections when we have the safety paradigm all locked up and it’s already working, and all the procedures are in place, and we have shown that we can handle the visitors.”

Earlier, Yap had also expressed interest in partnering with other countries with little or no Covid-19 cases for an exclusive travel corridor.

(See, “Bohol eyes tourists by 4Q 2020,” in the Businessmirror, July 31, 2020.)

According to Allones, “The provincial government of Bohol arranged the flight for those physically attending Phitex.”

Other than meetings between buyers and sellers via Travel Exchange, Phitex also features webinars, interviews, roundtable discussions, with tours among sellers held post-event. Qualified buyers, according to TPB, will be able to tour Panglao by the first quarter of 2021.

(See, “Long Road Back,” in the Businessmirror, August 30, 2020.)

NONIE REYES A MAKESHIFT shelter housing a family of three on Delpan Bridge stands in stark contrast to the highrises undergoing construction in the background. Despite the government’s efforts to boost human capital development through programs such as the Conditional Cash Transfer and the Pantawid ng Pamilyang Pilipino Program, the Philippines continues to be a laggard in terms of the World Bank’s Human Capital Index among its Asean neighbors.