Phl tourism campaign taking off

MANILA, Philippines - The government’s tourism promotion campaign “It’s more fun in the Philippines” is taking off, according to Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Ramon Jimenez.

“It’s going well. As of July, we already recorded 2.5 million foreign visitors. And the peak months are yet to come,” Jimenez told reporters last Tuesday on the sidelines of the House plenary session on the proposed P2-trillion 2013 national budget.

“We are well on the way to attaining our 2012 goal of 4.6 million foreign visitors, 700,000 more from last year’s 3.9 million,” he said.

During the short debate on DOT’s P2.95-billion 2013 budget, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez asked Jimenez to consider including the disputed Spratly group of islands off Palawan among the country’s tourist destinations.

Rodriguez said the government should do this since China, which is aggressively pursuing its territorial claim over these islets, has reportedly made them part of its tourism promotion campaign.

“If you do that, I will head a group of local tourists that will visit these disputed islands,” he said.

Jimenez later told reporters that his department would take the cue from President Aquino on the tourism potential of the Spratlys.

“Obviously, this is not just a tourism issue. It involves national security and foreign relations,” he said.

He said for next year, the DOT is aiming to bring in 5.54 million foreign tourists who are expected to spend a total of $3.8 billion here, or an average of $700 each.

In 2013, he said the tourism sector is expected to contribute 500,000 new jobs to the economy, on top of its revenue receipts.

In terms of domestic tourism, Jimenez said the DOT projects a total of 31.5 million local travelers, down from 36.636 million in 2011 but slightly up from 30.233 million in 2010.

The tourism chief did not indicate the country’s ranking in terms of foreign tourist arrivals among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

But a DOT report submitted to the House in last year’s budget hearings showed that in 2010, the Philippines ranked sixth with 2.5 million tourists, just ahead of Cambodia, which had 1.786 million arrivals.

Malaysia topped the list with 25.6 million foreign tourists, followed by Thailand, 15.9 million; Singapore, 11.6 million; Indonesia, seven million; and Vietnam, five million.

Jimenez said the DOT is actively promoting Philippine tourism in such markets as the United States, Japan, China, South Korea, Canada, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Europe, India, the Middle East, Russia, and in ASEAN.

He said his agency has an “international promotions” budget of P467 million and P1 billion for its “branding campaign” for next year.

He said aside from DOT’s P2.9-billion budget, other departments have their own funds for tourism-related services and infrastructure.

For instance, he said the Department of Public Works and Highways would have P12 billion next year for access roads to tourist destinations, while the Department of Transportation and Communications would have P3.5 billion for airport and port improvement projects.

In all, he said national government agencies would put up a P16.4-billion budget for tourism expenditures, while government corporations like the Manila International Airport Authority and Clark International Airport Corp. would spend a total of P5.5 billion.

Training for tourism workers

Meanwhile, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) has developed a training program for tourism workers to ensure that tourists will enjoy their stay in the country because the tourism industry of the country does not rest solely with the DOT.

Data from the National Statistical Coordination Board show that 10.2 percent of the country’s total employment in 2010, or 3.694 million jobs, are tourism-related and are based in hotels, restaurants, passenger transport, travel agencies, tour operators and tourism guides, recreation, entertainment and cultural services, retail trade on tourism-characteristic goods, and other similar industries.

Tourism leaders earlier had reported that they were having difficulty finding efficient and qualified workers at this time.

They said new graduates of tourism courses still need additional training while the qualified ones often choose to leave the country to seek employment abroad.

Baldoz said the NWPC came out with Service Quality (SQ) for the supply chain to instill a culture of quality and productivity in the tourism industry.

NWPC executive director Ciriaco Lagunzad said SQ for the supply chain is a two-day training program for managers, supervisors, and workers in the tourism sector.

“It involves lectures, discussions, exercises, and a workshop on the concept and principles of service quality, understanding customers, error-hunting and prevention, error recovery, and communication and teamwork for quality service,” he said.

Lagunzad said companies interested in the SQ training program may apply at the NWPC or at the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board nearest them. They may also visit the NWPC website at www.nwpc.dole.gov.ph.     With Mayen Jaymalin