PHL tourist arrivals up despite calamities – PNoy

By KIMBERLY JANE TAN, GMA News

Published February 14, 2014 11:12am

(Updated 1:46 p.m.) Despite the natural calamities that ravaged the Philippines last year, President Benigno Aquino III on Friday said international arrivals actually grew by almost 10 percent.

"Despite the calamities that the Philippines endured in 2013, this figure still grew by 10 percent to 4.7 million international arrivals last year," Aquino said during his speech at the Philippine Travel Agencies Association's Travel Tour Expo at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.

In 2012, he said the Philippines surpassed the four-million international arrival mark.

Even if international arrivals were "affected" last year, foreign tourists actually spent more during their visits, Aquino added, noting the average daily expenditures increased by 8.7 percent.

"The goal now is not merely to maintain our growth, but to cement our position as one of the world’s vacation hot spots," he said.

The challenge is apart from sustaining the appeal to "already favored" destinations, marketing hidden destinations, according to the President.

"It is not just about getting tourists to visit the Philippines once, but getting them to return. What we want is for both domestic and international tourists to become advocates of the Philippines – visitors who will return again and again to explore every corner, every peak, every shoreline of our archipelago, and encourage their friends and family to do the same," he added.

Tourism goal

The President reiterated his administration's goal is to attract 56.1 million domestic travelers by 2016.

"Year after year, we remain on track... [with] our targets – sometimes even exceeding them. Now, Secretary Mon Jimenez has the fun task of meeting, or better yet, surpassing our new 2016 target of just 56.1 million domestic travelers," he said.

This "ambitious target," after the government surpassed its initial target of 35.5 million domestic travelers five years ahead of schedule, comes after 37.5 million domestic travelers were recorded in 2011.

"I’m sure there are those who are doubting the figures. Perhaps, we can ask them if they can talk to people who were in Baguio either for Chinese New Year or during the Christmas holidays if indeed our domestic tourism is really on such a high," he said.

The tourism sector cannot be satisfied with what has been achieved so far, Aquino said. – VS, GMA News

Tags: tourismtarget, tourismdepartment, tourismreceipts, tourismrevenues