DOT eyes tourism investments from Japan

The Philippine tourism chief’s visit to Tokyo would be focused on securing new investments for tourism infrastructure and engaging more airlines to fly directly to the Philippines, the Department of Tourism (DOT) said yesterday.

Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo is in Japan until Oct. 28 as part of President Rodrigo’s delegation to position the Philippines as a choice tourist and investment destination for the Japanese.

During the three-day visit, the DOT has scheduled meetings with tourism stakeholders, including Vanilla Air and Japanese companies that are interested in investing in tourism infrastructure.

“As visitor arrivals from Japan to the Philippines continue to grow at an annual rate of 6.88 percent, our country has yet to tap into the Japanese market’s full potential as a top income generator,” Teo said.

“Our scheduled business meetings would hopefully encourage Japanese travel trade to expand operations in the Philippines,” Teo added.

Teo expressed confidence that the Philippines would rank higher in the top destinations of Japanese tourists in the region and worldwide, as compared to its 2010 ranking of 10th and 17th, respectively.

She s a id the growth would be driven by more direct flights from Fukuoka, Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo, Japan.