REOPENING of gaming establishments last year helped the recreation, entertainment and cultural services industry recover their workers last year, lifting overall tourism employment by almost five percent.
According to the latest Tourism Satellite Accounts released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), more than 100,000 workers in the recreation, entertainment and cultural services industry went back to their jobs last year, or a 45.3-percent gain that resulted in a 335,000 workforce. Aside from casinos, other establishments in said industry include museums, art galleries, botanical gardens and zoos, amusement parks, etc.
Government lowered the Covid-risk status in Metro Manila to Alert Level 3 in late October, which allowed casinos, horse racing, cockfighting, lottery and other gaming establishments to operate at 30-percent capacity.
The retail trade on tourism-characteristic goods industry also saw jobs growing by 20.3 percent to 429,000 workers. These are retailers who produce goods specific to our country like food delicacies and other souvenirs.
Overall, the PSA said “employed persons in the tourism industries registered 4.9 million in 2021, which was higher by 4.6 percent than the 4.68 million in the previous year.” Jobs in the sector accounted for 11.1 percent of the total employment in the country. (See, “Travel firms’ return to operations boosts 2021 tourism rebound,” in the BusinessMirror, June 16, 2022)
Below pre-pandemic levels
WHILE the uptrend in tourism jobs is welcome news, this was still below the pre-pandemic 5.7 million employed in 2019, which grew by 5.36 percent from the previous year. Tourism jobs also accounted for a much higher 13.5-percent share to total employment in 2019.
Of the total tourism workforce in 2021, the largest chunk was accounted for by the passenger transport industry at 1.87 million, and the accommodation, and food and beverage (F&B) industry at 1.4 million. Jobs in the passenger transport increased by 0.1 percent, a reversal in the 14.4-percent contraction in 2020, while the accommodation and F&B slipped by 3.5 percent, although an improvement from the 24-percent fall in 2020.
Other industries that gained employees were travel agents, tourism operators and tour guides, which grew by 13.6 percent to 43,000, and the miscellaneous industries such as spas, money changers, etc., which rose by 11.3 percent to 800,000.
Welcome news
THE growth in the Tourism Direct Gross Value Added (TDGVA) of 9.2 percent in 2021, was also slower than the 10.8 percent expansion in 2019. Thus, despite the P1 trillion TDGVA last year, the sector’s contribution to the local economic output, as expressed in gross domestic product (GDP), was only 5.2 percent compared to the 12.7 percent contribution in 2019, where TDGVA was measured at P2.5 trillion.
The Philippine Hotel Owners Association expressed enthusiasm over the latest the PSA tourism data.
“We welcome the news coming from the PSA that shows the positive growth rate in the country’s TDGVA,” PHOA Executive Director Benito C. Bengzon Jr. told the BusinessMirror. “We hope that tourism’s recovery will maintain a steady course, so we can soon return to the pre-pandemic levels.”
As per PSA data, travel agencies and other reservation services grew the fastest at 38.4 percent, while the accommodations services slipped by 10.8 percent. These were, however, massive improvements from the 82-percent contraction and almost 90 percent plunge for the travel agencies and accommodations sub-sectors in 2020.
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