More jobs in logistics, tourism industries eyed in Subic

MANILA, Philippines - The logistics and tourism industries are expected to generate more jobs in Subic as the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) starts to attract investments and make the freeport the best logistics and tourism hub in Southeast Asia.

For the past six years, tourism and logistics industries have created over 25,000 jobs, SBMA officials said.

A total of 10,231 jobs were given in port-related business and 7,863 jobs in the services sector from 2005 to 2010.

In the tourism sector, 8,008 jobs were created during the same period.

Officials said it has been the vision of the government to make Subic and Clark freeports the best logistics and tourism hub in Southeast Asia.

“We are focusing more on the logistics sector because of the national government’s thrust to build a world-class logistics network in Subic and Clark Freeport,” SBMA administrator Armand Arreza said.

Port-related investments also surged to $1.82 billion from 2005 to 2010 as foreign and local locators increased and supported the move to create a logistics hub between the Subic seaport and the Clark airport, connected by the world-class Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway.

A total of 169 new investment projects in the logistics and services sector have been approved by the SBMA or an average of 28 projects per year, making it the fastest-growing industry.

Investments in tourism also surged in the same period, with $1.48 billion in new investments at Subic Freeport.

These new investments in the tourism sector translated to a total of 158 projects from 2005 to 2010 or an average of 26 projects per year, Arreza said.

“It used to be the manufacturing sector that was responsible for the biggest investments in Subic, but because of the limited availability of open space in Subic, investments in the manufacturing sector had declined in the last six years and had been overtaken by investments in logistics and tourism,” he said.

Jobs created in the manufacturing sector topped all industries in job creation with 14,528 jobs created, but this is expected to be overtaken by the logistics and tourism industries because of the focus on these two industries.

“Once the expansion areas being eyed by SBMA in nearby communities become available, then we might see a resurgence in manufacturing projects,” Arreza said.