THE Duterte administration has proposed a higher budget for the construction of more roads and infrastructure to improve access to major tourism areas in the country.
In his letter to Congress on July 24, upon submission of the proposed national expenditure program for fiscal year 2018 (FY 2018), President Duterte wrote: “By enhancing access to tourism gateways, service centers and economic zones, we will provide the impetus for expanding opportunities in the countryside through jobs creation. For this purpose, we will support the P35-billion convergence project of the DOT [Department of Tourism] and DPWH [Department of Public Works and Highways] to build access roads leading to declared tourism destinations, a very significant increase of 184.6 percent from only P12.3 billion in 2017.”
The DOT-DPWH convergence program was conceived by the Aquino administration in January 2012. Most of these new roads and infrastructure will be constructed in tourism development areas in nine primary gateway clusters identified under the administration’s National Tourism and Development Plan (NTDP) for 2016-2022. These gateway clusters, which have international airports, include the Ilocos region; Central Luzon; Metro Manila and environs; Laguna, Batangas and Quezon; Bicol; Palawan; Western Visayas; Central Visayas and Negros Island; Cagayan de Oro coast and hinterland; and Davao Gulf and coast.
Under the NTDP, the government is targeting to attract 7.4 million foreign visitor arrivals in 2018, from 6.5 million in 2017; increase domestic travelers to 76.3 million in 2018 (from 73.3 million); and raise the number of employed in the tourism sector to 5.6 million (equivalent to 13.4 percent share to total employment) in 2018 (from 5.3 million, or 13.2 percent to total employment).
Visitor receipts are also targeted to rise to P2.6 trillion in 2018, of which, P564 billion will come from inbound travelers and P2.13 trillion from domestic travelers. This compared to this year’s goals of P2.36 billion in total visitor receipts, of which P407 billion are from inbound travelers, and P1.95 billion from domestic travelers.
Meanwhile, DOT officials are scheduled to defend the agency’s proposed budget for 2018 before members of the House Committee on Appropriations today (Wednesday).
According to documents obtained from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the proposed budget for the DOT for FY 2018 has been increased to P3.38 billion, up by 32 percent from the P2.56 billion in FY 2017.
Of the proposed DOT budget for FY 2018, budget increases were also allocated for its attached agencies, such as the Intramuros Administration at some P52.5 million (up some 24 percent from last year’s P42.4 million), and the National Parks Development Committee at P284.23 million (up some 30 percent from P218.8 million in 2017).
The Office of the Secretary of Tourism itself has been proposed to receive P3.04 billion, up 32 percent from the P2.3 billion it was allocated in FY 2017.
The same documents also show no “budgetary support” for FY 2018 for the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza), a government-owned and -controlled corporation (GOCC) that functions as the infrastructure arm of the DOT. The GOCC received an allocation of P20 million in FY 2017.
Tieza Chief Operating Officer Pocholo Paragas explained to the BusinessMirror: “We have our income, thus the need for us to request our budget from the GAA [General Appropriations Act] is not actually needed.”
Under Republic Act 9353, otherwise known as the Tourism Act of 2009, Tieza (formerly the Philippine Tourism Authority) derives its funds from travel taxes (50 percent of collections), collections of the DOT Office of Resource Generation, income from projects managed by the Tieza, subsidies or grants from local and foreign sources that may be received by said GOCC.
The DOT’s marketing arm, the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB), has a proposed allocation of some P1.7 billion, a slight increase of 3.23 percent from the P1.64 billion it received in FY 2016. The DBM failed to give the TPB any budget this year.
In total, the DBM documents show a proposed budget of P6.55 billion for the tourism sector in FY 2018, up 61 percent from the P4.07 million allotted last year.
Other agencies the DBM lumped under the tourism sector expenditure program were the Cultural Center of the Philippines (P806.09 million for FY 2018) and the Development Academy of the Philippines (P592.34 million for FY 2018).