Tourists arrivals in Phl surge

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Tourism (DOT) reported yesterday a marked increase in foreign tourists arrivals despite travel advisories issued by some countries.

Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim said 1.6 million foreign tourists visited the different tourist spots nationwide in the first five months of the year.

“We have 170,000 more foreign tourists or a 12 percent increase compared to the same period last year. With the trend we expect to hit our target of 3.7 million by yearend,” Lim said.

Lim said tourists from South Korea, the United States and Japan were the main visitors and accounted for nearly half of total arrivals for the first five months.

He said that the DOT is set to officially turn over to President Aquino the newly drafted National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP).

“There might still be come changes in the plan, but we are set to officially turn it over to the President by the end of the month,” Lim disclosed.

The plan includes the upgrading of the international airports and the DOT expects to attract about 6.5 million foreign tourists and generate 2.9 million new jobs in the next five years.

“Tourism may not be the largest contributor to foreign exchange, but this is a good industry that would address poverty because it allows employment of people in poor communities,” Lim pointed out.

Under the plan, Lim said, the DOT would be working with concerned government agencies in implementing infrastructure projects that would make the different destinations accessible and have better services for visitors, both local and foreign.

He said the NTDP is very different because it is “action-oriented” and has a specific time frame for the completion of projects.   

Compared to neighboring countries, Lim admitted that country’s tourism industry is “under performing,” but he expressed hope that the government would be able to address the barriers to tourism growth with the new plan.

Lim also admitted that the country is suffering from bad image that discourages tourists from coming.

“We are not viewed favorably because of reported peace and order problem, so we really need a new campaign to promote the country’s good image,” he said.

At this time, Lim said, the DOT has a short list of seven advertising agencies that successfully met the strict criteria to craft the new “country brand.”

DOT said the seven agencies were selected from 26 companies that heeded the call of the government to submit proposals for the DOT campaign.

Lim said the DOT has chosen seven of the country’s biggest advertising companies since they posses the expertise needed to formulate the new brand.

He said the DOT has allocated P13 million for the campaign that would play an important role in the government’s thrust to increase the number of international tourist arrivals, spur domestic tourism, and increase foreign exchange earnings and job generation in this key industry.

Last year, the DOT spent P4 million in presenting to the public the “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” slogan which drew flak from the tourism industry and other sectors who claimed that the slogan was plagiarized and amateurish.

The controversy eventually prompted the DOT to shelve the slogan that also led to the resignation of then Tourism Undersecretary Vicente Romano, the man allegedly behind the controversial slogan.

The new country brand to be launched before the end of the year, Lim said, will include a multi-media campaign that will be used by all government agencies.