THE Department of Tourism (DOT) on Tuesday said the Philippines saw a dramatic decline in international arrivals last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
At a virtual press conference, Tourism secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said that “due to entry restriction,” the country received only 1,323,956 foreign visitors from January to December 2020.
This was a decline of 83.97 percent from the 8,260,913 arrivals in the same period in 2019.
Total receipts generated from inbound tourism for 2020 registered an estimated P81.40 billion, down 83.12 percent from the visitor receipts of P482.16 billion recorded in the prior year.
“The impact of COVID-19 that started to be felt in the first quarter of the year was unprecedented and spared no one. With the closure of borders to international tourist traffic and the imposition of quarantine measures, tourism activities ground to a halt affecting various enterprises and displacing workers,” according to Puyat.
Nonetheless, the Tourism chief said that domestic tourism will continue to be the main strategy to reboot Philippine tourism.
“The DOT and TPB (Tourism Promotions Board) will spearhead product diversification and enhancement activities with the regions and LGUs,” she said.
Puyat noted that the reopening of local destinations is a decision that will continue to be made by the local government units (LGUs).
“The DOT will help LGUs that have declared their readiness to accept tourists,” she said.
Faced with the new COVID variant, the Tourism chief said entry protocols will need to be further strengthened.
“On our part, the continued development of health and safety guidelines for the operations of other tourism enterprises and activities will be prioritized to ensure the well-being of visitors and workers as well as help improve the readiness of destinations to reopen for business,” she said.
“Hopefully, with the improvement of community quarantine levels, efforts will be intensified to help revive tourism activities and restore job and livelihood opportunities,” she added.
The Tourism chief emphasized the need to standardize travel protocols and encourage movement.
“There is a need to harmonize the different LGU requirements,” she said.
The adoption of a unified contact tracing app is also recommended in light of the different ones currently in use.
The DOT chief said the Philippine Travel app will further be developed to integrate other local and national government systems and platforms and become a super app that more travelers can rely on.
In destinations where there are limited health facilities, package tours will be recommended, Puyat said.
The National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP) 2016-2022 will be aligned with the Tourism Response and Recovery Plan (TRRP) to “strengthen institutional and policy reforms as well as help prepare destinations towards the new normal,” she said.
“Recalibration of targets and refocusing to domestic tourism in the short term will be carried out,” she said.
“Such plans will also need to be in harmony with the NEDA’s Ambisyon 2040 and Philippine Development Plan,” she added. (GMA News)
