Free spenders could boost PHtourism, government told

The Duterte administration is being urged to upgrade the country’s infrastructure facilities to attract big spenders in the tourism market.

“We need to upgrade our facilities to attract the mid- and high-end market, which spends $2,000 to $4,000 per visit for truly exciting world-class destinations,” said Samie Lim, vice president at the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI).

Lim pointed out that while the country boasts of some of the best resorts in the world, it has so far attracted only the mid- to low-end tourists who each spend less than $1,000 for a trip.

Last year, the Philippines recorded 5.36 million international tourist arrivals, with guests found to be staying an average of 10.5 days.

He said 20 million international tourist arrivals were expected in the next decade.

Nonetheless, the country has already been overtaken by Indonesia and Vietnam, with the Philippines ranking sixth out of the 10 Asean countries in terms of international tourist arrivals, he added.

“If we do not build our capacity for at least 20 million tourists by 2026, we will probably be overtaken by Cambodia and Myanmar and slide down to number eight position. Even at 20 million for international tourists, we will have only 3.7-percent market share of the Asia market of 530 million by 2030,” Lim said in a statement.

The PCCI official also urged the government to develop a second airport that can be put up in Clark, Sangley or Bulacan; upgrade the Cebu airport to become the hub for Visayas; and build a new international gateway in Davao for the Mindanao cluster.

He also suggested promoting three major and distinct tourist districts in Manila, namely the Bay Area Tourism District, the Makati/Bonifacio Global City District, and the Ortigas/Araneta Tourism District.

A report released earlier this year by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) showed the local travel and tourism industry contributed a total of P1.43 trillion to the economy in 2015, equivalent to about 10.6 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

The industry’s total contribution—which reflected not only the economic activities of directly related industries, but also the wider effects from investment, the supply chain and induced incomeimpacts—wasalso expected to rise by 6.6 percent this year and another 5.4 percent to P2.6 trillion by 2026, data from the WTTC’s Travel andTourism Economic Impact 2016 report showed.

The industry’s direct contribution—which primarily measures the economic activity generated by industries such as hotels, travel agents, airlines and other passenger transportation services—rose to P569 billion last year, equivalent to 4.2 percent of total GDP.

Direct contribution is similarly expected to grow by 6 percent to P604 billion this year, and by 5.3 percent yearly to P1 trillion by 2026.