Philippines eyes air services deal with France amid missed tourism targets

PARIS - The Philippines is looking forward to signing a direct air services deal with France to boost the number of its tourism arrivals, which has been lower than expected in the last few years.

Philippine Ambassador to France Ma. Theresa Lazaro said direct flights would allow French tourists to explore the Philippines’ attractions including its beaches.

“With the direct flights, our tourism numbers will increase but even at this point, the French people are looking at the Philippines in terms of diving spots and of course our beaches are excellent beaches," Lazaro said in an interview with Radio TV Malacañang last Saturday.

Tourism arrivals in the Philippines hit 4.8 million in 2014, higher than the 4.68 million recorded in 2013 but still below the government’s target of 6.8 million.

The Philippines only captured 1.8 percent of international tourist arrivals in the Asia Pacific region last year, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization. The figure paled in comparison with those of its Southeast Asian neighbors Indonesia (3.6 percent), Malaysia (10.4 percent), Singapore (4.5 percent), Thailand (9.4 percent) and Vietnam (three percent).

The government has also been missing its tourism arrival targets since 2012.

The number of tourists who arrived in the Philippines only totaled 4.7 million in 2013, lower than the target of 5.5 million because of the impact of typhoon “Yolanda” and the Bohol earthquake. Tourism arrivals reached 4.3 million in 2012 but fell short of the 4.6 million goal.

The government aims to lure 5.5 million tourists to the country this year.

France is one of the country's high growth markets in the tourism sector from January to September 2015, based on figures provided by the Department of Tourism

In September alone, France belonged to the markets with substantial growth in inbound tourists with 34,173 arrivals. Other markets that posted substantial growth were India with 54,565 arrivals; Saudi Arabia with 40,453; Argentina with 1,357; Brazil with 2,602; Spain with 17,523; Israel with 8,890; and Turkey with 4,365.

By regional basis, Eastern Mediterranean Europe had the highest increase of 44.8 percent followed by South America with 33.50 percent and South Asia with 20.56 percent.

President Aquino is scheduled to witness the signing of an air services agreement between the Philippines and Italy as part of his three-state European trip this week. The agreement is expected to benefit Filipino workers and investors coming from Italy.