MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine government should invest approximately P45 billion yearly to maintain and sustain the growth of the country’s tourism industry, Albay Gov. Joey Sarte Salceda said. He said the amount should be invested to further expand the capacity of Philippine destinations and the development of various tourist facilities.
“We can invest so much more. The government in terms of its fiscal capacity can easily invest about P45 billion to things that everybody can use which are public goods,” he said.
Furthermore, Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. encouraged the private sector to keep on pouring capital for the future of the Philippine tourism industry.
“Tourism is now a very serious industry and it requires continuous investments. Tourism is not something that happens magically, you’ve got to put your shoulder behind it and push,” he told reporters during the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) New Tourism Frontiers Forum in Legazpi.
Jimenez also noted the Philippines would become one of the leaders in ecotourism and sustainable tourism around the world as it is at the center of biodiversity on earth.
“The Philippines is at the forefront of new techniques, new approaches for ecotourism and sustainable tourism because that is the tourism of the future. The world will travel to see the world as it was,” he said.
Although not close to reaching its previous target of 10 million arrivals for 2016, Jimenez said they are about to double the figures since 2010 as tourist arrivals are expected to breach six million by next year.
“We had several setbacks including Typhoon Yolanda and misunderstanding with other countries. Let’s not get pre-occupied with the numbers. Let’s focus on sustainability and keeping the momentum going,” he added.
The tourism industry for foreign arrivals alone will be worth close to $6 billion by the end of the Aquino administration while domestic tourism posts P1.4 trillion in revenues yearly. Direct tourism employment is almost at six million.
It contributes eight percent to the country’s gross domestic product and is the third largest dollar earning industry of the Philippines next to semiconductor and BPO (business process outsourcing) industries.