International body bullish on Philippines tourism recovery

MANILA, Philippines — The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) is optimistic of the Philippine travel and tourism industry’s recovery, emphasizing its impressive growth over the years, driven by strong collaboration between the private and public sectors.

In a webinar organized by the Department of Tourism and the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB), WTTC president and chief executive officer Gloria Guevara cited data which showed that the Philippine travel and tourism sector contributed 25.3 percent to the country’s gross domestic product in 2019 as the sector grew by 8.6 percent.

“This is a very important sector for the country and they have done a very amazing job. If you look at the world average[growth] it’s 3.5 percent, the Philippines grew more than double that number at 8.6 percent. Very, very impressive,” Guevara said.

Guevara attributed the growth to the leadership, initiatives and public policies in the Philippine travel and tourism sector.

“But the most important as well is the partnership with the private sector, which is key for the growth,” she said.

“So great numbers, great success and we will continue with this, once we overcome the challenge that we are facing now,”she added.

Meanwhile, Marriott International president and managing director for Asia Pacific Craig Smith also expressed bullish sentiment for the future of the Philippine tourism sector.

“We are very impressed with what happened in the Philippines especially over the last five years. We’ve been bullish about the Philippines, we continue to be bullish about the future of the Philippines,”Smith said.

He added that the group currently has six hotels in the Philippines and has 21 projects signed up for development.

“I think that shows Marriott’s commitment to the Philippines,”Smith said.

Moreover, Guevara said that a global coordinated approach to re-establish effective operations, remove travel barriers and reopen borders is needed for the recovery of the travel and tourism sector.

“Coordinated approach to open borders, to move barriers is crucial so that the airlines they know when they can start flying to what destinations, hotels so that they know when they can open,”Guevara said.

“It’s not going to be the whole world at the same time. We know that travelling will start domestic first and will move to international, but it needs to be in a coordinated way,”she stressed.

Other recommendations include enhancing seamless travel by adding health components and combining the latest technology, and necessary protection and protocols as well as the implementation of global protocols or standards defined by the travel and tourism private sector, health experts, and public sector can help gain back travelers’ confidence.

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat expressed her confidence in rebuilding the local tourism industry with the help of WTTC, whose primary initiative is crisis preparedness, management and recovery in the travel and tourism industry.

“The WTTC has worked with the World Economic Forum, the World Health Organization and key stakeholders in coming up with recommendations to minimize the impact of past pandemics in the industry,” Puyat said.

“Acknowledging this fact, we are definitely certain that their insights will be greatly beneficial to our local tourism players,”she said.

Puyat enjoined the support of all sectors to ensure that health and safety protocols are in place to regain travelers confidence.

“There is more to tourism than just counting the numbers of arriving tourists; we are in the business of selling destinations so communities will thrive; we market adventure so our people will be employed; we promote culture as a way of preserving our heritage. The concept of tourism is deeply embedded in our consciousness, and I would like to believe that this is what makes our industry resilient from all the challenges, even the toughest one that we are about to overcome,” Puyat said.

Last month, DOT began organizing online learning courses that aim to help local tourism players become more competitive, with new knowledge, technological advances, and ways to innovate and to be able to cater to a new breed of travelers.

“The challenges brought about by the current health crisis that we are experiencing should not deter us from fulfilling our mission to ensure that the industry is seamless, secure, safe, inclusive and sustainable,” Puyat said.