PHILIPPINES: Department Of Tourism Marked 2015 5-M Tourist Arrival Milestone

The Philippines finally crossed the five million mark in tourist arrivals last Dec. 21, bringing the country into what tourism officials call “the big league.”

That milestone joins the many firsts that the Department of Tourism (DOT) marked in 2015 as the country hosted several major international events as part of “Visit the Philippines Year” (VPY) 2015.

The VPY campaign comes from DOT’s “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” slogan which aims to bring in high-profile personalities, meetings, and exhibition events in the country to boost the local tourism industry.

“It has been very effective in terms of creating a higher level of awareness of the Philippines as a competitive destination in this part of the world,” Tourism Undersecretary Benito Bengzon Jr. said in an interview.

With the success of the VPY, the country was finally able to break the five-millionth mark for tourist arrivals last Dec. 21, DOT said.

“The fact that we have crossed the five-millionth mark means that we are already in the big league so to speak. So this will allow us now to really compete more strongly against the other destinations in the region,” Bengzon said.

The VPY had grabbed world attention after the country successfully hosted the historic visit of Pope Francis in Metro Manila from Jan. 15-19.

That was followed by the Shell-Eco Marathon 2015, held from Feb. 25 to March 1, which brought in some 40,000 tourists to the National Capital Region.

NCR also hosted the Madrid Fusion Manila (MFM), which was held in Pasay City from April 24-26. This was the first time the Spanish culinary event was held in Southeast Asia bringing at least 1,000 participants, including internationally renowned chefs.

Other international events held in the country were the Siargao International Surfing competition, Dive Resort Travel (DRT) Philippine Show and the ministerial meetings of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member countries.

The biggest event of VPY was the APEC Leaders Summit, which was attended by 21 heads of states and served as the culminating event of the APEC ministerial meetings. Preparations for the momentous event, which was held Nov. 18-19 in Pasay City, started in 2012 and cost the government some R10 billion to organize.

Bengzon noted that the event was worth its cost since it showed to the international community that our country could now host such important meetings.

Aside from co-organizing events in 2015, DOT continued to focus on its mandate to coordinate with the other government agencies to improve access to local tourist destination sites.

In 2015, DOT requested the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for the construction of some 350 road projects connecting airports, seaports, and tourist destinations under the Tourism Road Infrastructure Program (TRIP). Sixteen of those projects were already being built by Sept. 3.

Meanwhile, DOT also partnered with the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) for the signing of air agreements with Singapore, Taiwan, Oman, Australia, Mexico, Qatar, Turkey, Russia, and Korea to raise the number of their flights bound to the Philippines from those countries.

Bengzon said those agreements will increase tourist arrivals since 99 percent of the country’s foreign visitors arrive by plane.

With the rising number of cruise liners making ports of call in the Philippines, DOT announced recently plans to upgrade the seaports in Manila, Puerto Princesa, Subic and Boracay. Bengzon said this is in anticipation of the growth of the country’s cruise tourism by 2018.

At least 44 cruise liners visited the country in the first nine months of 2015.

Despite the favorable outputs, DOT also had its share of some “bumps” on the road. Among them were the kidnapping of three foreigners in a resort in Samal Island and the detention of an American passenger who fell prey to the “tanim-bala” (bullet-planting) scheme at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

While both issues raised some concerns abroad, Bengzon stressed that the two events did not make a dent in the country’s tourist arrivals since it was promptly addressed by the government.

He added DOT maintains different source markets to “insulate” the country’s tourism arrivals from the possible effects of such incidents.

In October, tourist arrivals grew by 14.85 percent to 412,185, compared to 358,876 in the same period in 2014.

This brings the total number of foreign visitors in the country for the first 10 months of 2015 to 4.3 million. That led to the creation of some five million jobs and generated tourist receipts worth R186 billion.

In the last quarter of the year, DOT announced that it will postpone the release of a new star rating system (SRS) for hotels and resorts. The postponement was made after a protest lodged by Plantation Bay Holdings Corp., who claimed its implementation was arbitrary.

However DOT explained that the SRS, which aims to raise the competitiveness of tourism accommodations in the country, was based on results of several stakeholder consultations with representatives from the tourism industry.

The implementation of the SRS was scheduled in November and was postponed indefinitely pending an investigation of a House committee this month. The DOT was ordered to submit a “revised accreditation standards” to the House committee.