GOVERNMENT economic managers on Tuesday hailed the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program as one of the keys in boosting tourism activities in the country.
Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat said in a video message at the Philippine Economic Briefing 2022 held at the Philippine International Convention Center, “The Philippines is blessed with a highly diverse array of tourist attractions and spots. But without the necessary infrastructure, many of these spaces would be out of reach to our travelers.”
It was due to the BBB program that “numerous airports, seaports, airports and bridges and thousands of kilometers of roads had been built or upgraded to make tourists journey around the country safe, convenient and fun,” she added.
The Department of Tourism (DOT) has a convergence program with both the Department of Public Highways and Department of Transportation (DOTr), which helps identify vital roads and bridges needed to connect tourism destinations, as well as airports and seaports, to help attract tourists to key destinations outside of Metro Manila.
Echoing Romulo Puyat’s sentiment, Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade said, “The country’s tourism and beautiful destinations are now more than ever easily accessible to local and foreign visitors. Over the past six years, we have constructed, developed, and rehabilitated numerous airport projects in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, so that the riding public could enjoy a more reliable and certainly more convenient travel experience.”
He also cited the upgrading of airports with night-flight capabilities to allow arrivals in various destinations even after sunset.
Although many of these infrastructure projects were conceptualized or started in the Aquino administration, the Duterte administration was able to complete the Siquijor Airport, the Tagbilaran Port, the Candon City Bypass Road, the Tagaytay Bypass Road, and construct over 80 kilometers in bridges under the Inter-Island/Mega Bridge Program. This includes the 32.5-km Panay-Guimaras-Negros Link Bridge.
According to the DOTr, as of December 2021, the Duterte administration has also completed 236 airport projects including the Panglao International Airport in Bohol, the Butuan airport, the Zamboanga International Airport, the new terminals at Clark International Airport in Pampanga, and at the Mactan Cebu International Airport as well as the night rating of 21 key airports in the country.
Prior to the pandemic, the Philippines attracted 8.26 million foreign tourists in the country in 2019, up 15.24 percent from the previous year and 38 percent from the 6 million arrivals in 2016, when the Duterte administration began. These arrivals in 2019 generated P482 billion in tourism receipts, up 18.8 percent from 2018, and a two-fold increase from the P230.13 billion generated in 2016.
Domestic tourism in the Philippines grew by 11.5 percent to 110 million travelers in 2019, which was 45 percent more than the domestic travelers in 2016. Domestic travel generated P3.1 trillion in tourism receipts, some 11 percent higher than 2018’s P2.8 trillion. At the start of the Duterte administration, domestic tourism receipts were at P2.11 trillion.
With the reopening of the Philippines to foreign travelers, Romulo Puyat has expressed optimism over the tourism sector’s recovery. From February 10 to April 3, data provided by the DOT showed total arrivals at 182,237, of which 41.4 percent or 75,556 were balikbayans (homecoming Filipinos) while the rest were foreign tourists at 106,681.
Image credits: Caap