AS an important weapon of the Philippines’ economic arsenal, tourism has become an industry built through the country’s natural and cultural environment.
Tourism holds the assurance of increased employment and income opportunities for Filipinos, particularly to those living in rural and coastal areas of the country.
But, with last week’s resignation of Department of Tourism (DoT) Sec. Alberto Lim, this fragile industry faces a new challenge.
His resignation will take effect on August 31, 2011. He cited personal reasons as cause. Yet, Lim will leave behind a legacy of notable accomplishments while he was in office.
One of his trademark achievements is Executive Order 29: The Open Skies Policy.
This policy enabled the proliferation of local tourist destinations, by allowing foreign airlines to fly in and out of selected airports outside Metro Manila, connecting these tourist destinations abroad.
Under Lim’s leadership, The DoT was also able to come up with the National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP).
With the NTDP, the country aims to have 6.3 million foreign visitors by 2016, 30 million domestic tourists, and tourism receipts would reach $1.7 billion dollars: about 6.7% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Based on 2010 figures, there are about 3.5 million foreign tourist arrivals and 28 million domestic tourists. Moreover, for the first quarter of 2011, visitor arrivals in the country reached 1.3 million. Undoubtedly, Lim has spearheaded a reliable campaign to raise the profile of the Philippines as a tourist destination.
The challenge of replicating these improvements in the agency – if not achieving more – concerns not only the next appointed tourism chief. The goal of sustaining a robust tourism growth still lingers.
In most ASEAN nations, rapid development of the tourism industries in countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines has been widely credited for becoming a tool for economic progress.
However, the Philippines still lags behind. Over the last 40 years, the growth of tourist arrivals and receipts in these countries (except the Philippines) has been among the highest in the world.
The recent growth in the tourism industry has ushered a renewed confidence in transforming the country as a competitive world destination.
With the world just waiting to see the Philippines in all its beauty and splendor in a well-maintained environment, an array of tasks to support the current growth have yet to be accomplished.The Philippine tourism industry is a promising trade with a huge potential to contribute more on the economic growth at a national and regional level.
Its budding competitiveness in attracting foreign visitors should be capitalized in a way that the venture would not put pressure into its natural resources, but still would jumpstart vast employment for its people.
The world is experiencing an increased wealth and access to travel nowadays and the possibility of more tourist arrivals is inevitable. The government should augment the country’s infrastructure while still ensuring that every new structure built keeps the local style otherwise foreign visitors might lose interest in the Philippines.
The first quarter of the Philippine tourism year manifested a rise in the number of tourists arriving in the country compared to previous years. At a time when the Philippines is experiencing an unmarketable economic scenario, the current trend of tourists flow shows some welcoming sign.
The gap between the Philippines and other countries must be closed. Regardless of location or level of development, the local tourism sector, with its incoming new leader, should access all the country’s resources to make the Philippines the best pick, as a top tourist destination.
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Midweek Aug 17-19, 2011 Sec A pg.6)