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TOURISM
arrivals in the Philippines will continue to strengthen
despite the projected slowdown in visitors from the US.
In an
interview with the BusinessMirror, Tourism Secretary
Joseph Ace Durano said: “I’m projecting a 7-percent to
9-percent growth this year overall, even if arrivals
from the US market slow down.”
However,
Durano’s projections are slightly lower than the
3.5-million target he announced at the beginning of
2008.
Last
year, tourist arrivals reached 3.09 million, up 8.7
percent from 2006, data from the Department of Tourism
(DOT) show. This means Durano’s revised projection this
year for arrivals is between 3.3 million and 3.37
million, compared with the 13.3-percent growth earlier
announced.
The
slippage in arrivals from the US was already evident in
the shrinking of participants in the recently concluded
4th Annual Ambassadors, Consuls General and Tourism
Directors Tour. While the DOT had targeted 500
balikbayan or returning Filipinos from the US and Canada
including their families, only 347 actually joined the
tour held from July 12 to 14. When the tour was started
in 2005, participants numbered 516. Last year,
participants topped off at 650.
Philippine Ambassador to Washington, D.C., Willy Gaa
said “people abroad have been affected by the economic
crunch.” Still, he expressed satisfaction with the size
of the tour group, saying: “It’s more than we expected
and this group that joined us gave us their reservations
as early as April or May…. I think this is just about
the right size [compared with] last year, which was a
lot.”
For his
part, Durano explained: “In the US, consumer confidence
is at its lowest ever in the past 16 years, so I’m even
surprised we got this number. While we initially
targeted 500, we expected only 200, considering the
[tour] packages went up by 20 percent. With these dual
factors in play, 200 would have been considered good,
but we got 350.”
The
tourism chief added there is even a demand to hold a
similar tour twice a year, beginning this November.
“We’re ready for it. We’ve always been pushing for
making it twice a year. The value of this is not so much
the tour but [the possibility of turning] them into
investors. They start off as tourists to see the
vibrancy of the economy, to see the opportunities as an
investor also in business.”
Data
from the DOT show 1.37 million tourists arrived from
January to May 2008, up 7.4 percent from the 1.28
million arrivals in the same period last year. For the
first five months of the year, the US market accounted
for 266,005 or 19.4 percent of the total arrivals,
placing second after Koreans at 270,005, accounting for
19.7 percent. Arrivals from Canada came in eighth place,
at 45,944, representing 3.3 percent of total tourist
arrivals in the Philippines.
“Nobody
saw the slowdown in the US. I foresee the North American
market to soften. But in the past two years we were able
to position ourselves in emerging markets and these are
the ones that are fueling our growth despite the
challenges. These emerging markets include Korea, China,
India, and Russia,” said Durano.
The DOT
data show that in the first five months of 2008, Korean
arrivals rose by 2.4 percent, the Chinese at 22.2
percent, Indians 24 percent, and Russians, 12.4 percent.
Meanwhile, participants in the Ambassadors’ tour said
they were satisfied with the events they attended and
sites they visited.
Evangeline Gatmaitan, a dentist in Manhattan and
resident of New York since 1975, said she was happy to
be back in the Philippines, and meant to go home to her
province of Davao with the official tour now over. “Many
changes have happened since I was here last nine years
ago. The tour was just great. We have been treated so
well. I can’t complain.”
Guam businessman Henry Santos Dacanay, whose family hails from
Ilocos Norte, said the tour was “fantastic.” Born and
raised on Guam, he said the tour made him appreciate his
Filipino roots even more. “Growing up on Guam, I’ve
never really experienced Filipino culture, but this trip
has made me proud to be a Filipino.”
His
wife, Laura Lynn V. Dacanay, an American banker, said
when she visits Manila, she usually does “the three
Ms—malls, massages, and manicure. But this is the first
time I’ve seen the culture. I really appreciate it.”
The tour
delegations visited Intramuros, Corregidor, Rizal Park,
the Manila Ocean Park, and other popular tourist sites
in Cavite, Laguna and Batangas.
One
addition to this year’s tour was the visit to the
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los
Baños, Laguna. According to Ambassador Gaa, the IRRI
visit “is a timely inclusion because of the recent
problem on food security all over the world. The people
have been given the opportunity to look into the
developments on rice production and what governments the
world over has been doing to address this food issue.” |
