Resilience, rehab mark PH tourism in 2018

FILE: OVERTIME. Laborers work overtime to get the Boracay icon (upper left) finished before the island’s reopening at the Cagban Jetty Port on Thursday (Oct. 25, 2018). The world-famous Boracay island’s re-opening is slated Friday (Oct. 26) after a 6-month rehabilitation. Shown foreground are boats of Task Force Bantay Boracay, a multi-agency created by the Aklan provincial government tasked to help keep peace and order. (PNA photo by Gigie R. Arcilla-Agtay)

MANILA — With the Philippine government commitment to sustainable tourism, several vacation destinations experienced rehabilitation this year.

In April, the government shut down the idyllic Boracay, which has turned into a “cesspool” due to alarming water pollution in its beaches, stringed with unhampered developments by establishment owners.

Several observers both from the international and local community once grew apprehensive on the fate of the Philippine tourism with its top tourist-draw closed down for six months.

October passed, growth of foreign tourist arrivals remained relatively stable, with some months after the closure even reflecting above 10 percent increase in international visitors.

Department of Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said the Boracay shutdown somewhat instilled a sense of discipline to Filipinos and foreigners alike visiting the resort island.

“When Boracay opened, the netizens would text me when they witness environmental violations being committed, they themselves also know how Boracay was cleaned,” she said.

“I’ve noticed that a lot of people I don’t know really want to maintain Boracay and you can’t imagine the number of texts I receive from people I don’t know asking that their places be rehabilitated also,” she added.

Puyat said this only shows that people are actually concerned about their environment.

She noted that Japan, the fourth top visitor market of the Philippines, has even praised the country’s rehabilitation efforts to bring back the pristine beauty of Boracay.

Overall, she said the image of the Philippine tourism improved “not only around the country but abroad,” as it showed the government’s commitment to promote destinations that are ecologically sustainable.

Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA) President Marlene Dado Jante regarded the Philippine tourism industry as “resilient and growing.”

“I believe we are growing. While there had been challenges we’ve faced in the past, it’s proven that our tourist arrival increases. Though we have political issues, security concerns, it (arrivals) grew,” she told the Philippine News Agency.

On Boracay facelift, she affirmed that their clients remain faithful to Philippine destinations.

‘A tourism powerhouse’

In September 2018, the Philippines was named one of the 15 travel and tourism powerhouses by the World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) “Power and Performance Report.

Manila ranked eighth among states that have seen the largest growth from 2011 to 2017 in travel and tourism’s contribution to gross domestic product (GDP), with USD66.3-billion share in 2017 alone.

It also placed seventh among states where travel and tourism contribution to GDP grew fastest, growing at an annual rate of 14.2 percent.

The country’s tourism is rapidly growing that the government is also five years ahead of its domestic tourism targets.

In 2017, the DOT recorded around 96.7 million local tourist arrivals, exceeding its 86.2 million target set for 2022.

About 6.62 million foreign tourists, on the other hand, visited the Philippines in the same year.

The 2018 figure is expected to surpass this record after the January to October arrivals reached 5,880,895, at least 7.43 percent higher than the same period last year.

The DOT, targeting 7.4 million tourists by end of December, however, said the mark would have to be lowered down to around 7 million or 7.2 million to cope with the impact of Boracay closure.