Marcos: Gov’t lobbying for lifting of Japan’s ‘travel advisory’ vs. key Philippine destinations

TOKYO — The Philippine government will persuade its Japanese counterpart to lift or ease its travel advisories against key travel destinations in the Philippines in a bid to revive the country’s pandemic-hit tourism industry, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Thursday.

This was announced by the President during the second day of his working visit here, according to a statement released by the Department of Tourism (DOT).

“The Philippines and Japan has so much in the pipeline on what we can share and learn with each other. But first and foremost, we note that in order for us to further deepen our nation’s mutual friendship and interest, we must first be open to each other’s people,” Marcos said during the high-level roundtable meeting with Japanese tourism stakeholders.

The DOT said Marcos was with Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco during the roundtable meeting.

“With this, we are working on lobbying to the Japanese government for the lifting or limiting of its travel advisory against the Philippines’ key travel destinations,” the President said.

The DOT, however, did not elaborate which Philippine destinations have existing travel advisories from the Japanese government.

Nonetheless, the President said the country is open and ready to welcome more Japanese tourists into the Philippine shores.

“As a country that recognizes the linkage of our success to that of our neighbors such as Japan, working together in boosting one’s tourism sector is vital to economic resurgence,” he said

Marcos said that during pre-pandemic times tourism contributed 12.9% or close to 13% to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

“We are banking on this potential to reshape the industry to be one of the key economic drivers of the country. We are well on our way to recovery, this I assure you, with more than 2.65 million foreign visitors we have welcomed last year, that’s exceeding the initial target of 1.7 million,” the President said.

The Philippines and Japan, Marcos said, are deeply rooted in “unique appreciation and preservation of our culture, our traditions, and our heritage.”

“Now, this is something we admire and can share with our Japanese friends, whose success in the tourism sector is profoundly etched in one’s cultural identity that has adapted and strengthened over time,” he said.

Japan was ranked sixth among the top 10 countries with most tourist arrivals in the Philippines last year, according to the DOT.

The President also identified boosting the country's educational tourism as an area where the friendship between Japan and Philippines can be further improved.

"Filipinos are known to be the citizens of the world. Filipinos have a fluency in English that is recognized to be one of our main leverages, one of our main selling points in terms of educational tourism. It makes it easy for us to work and communicate in other countries. And where else can you better learn English than in the Philippines,” Marcos said. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News