MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday met with leaders of the Japanese travel industry and invited them to invest in the Philippines, signaling the importance held by Japan as the country’s fourth biggest foreign tourist market.
Duterte met with representatives from the Japan travel industry at the Imperial Hotel Tokyo as a parallel event to the Philippine Business Mission (PBM) to Japan 2019, the Department of Tourism (DOT) said on Thursday.
The meeting came after the President spoke at a business forum where a total of 26 investment deals worth P288.894 billion – seen to generate 82,737 jobs in the Philippines – were signed between Filipino and Japanese businessmen.
“We are receiving a lot of tourists now and soon, some areas might not be able to accommodate you for lack of facilities. We suggest for those who are interested to go into business to participate in building resorts for your citizens,” Duterte said in his remarks as quoted by the DOT.
Duterte also said inter-island travel in the country will be easier, more comfortable and more affordable due to improved airports and seaports.
Tourism secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat talked about the investment opportunities in the areas of accommodation, transportation, leisure and recreational facilities, food and beverage and even infrastructure.
For his part, Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) president Tadashi Shimura discussed the focused marketing initiatives in Japan for Philippine tourism.
Shimura said Japan’s travel industry will help the Philippines develop and promote destinations aside from Cebu and Manila and support the DOT’s advocacy on sustainable tourism.
JATA will send 20 travel agencies to the Philippines to meet with local travel agents and explore possible areas of collaboration, the DOT said.
International air seats to the Philippines from Japan now total 3,250,264 as of March 2019, the DOT said.
It said the inbound traffic is expected to rise with Philippine Airlines’ introduction of Chitose-Manila thrice weekly flights last December, Japan Airlines’ daily service linking Haneda with Manila since February and the upcoming flights of Air Asia (Osaka-Manila, July 1), and Cebu Pacific (Narita-Clark, August 9).
Japan continues to be the Philippines’ fourth biggest market, with 177,769 Japanese visiting the country in the first quarter of 2019, according to DOT data.
In 2018, 631,801 Japanese tourists visited the Philippines, up 8.15 percent from the previous year.
Duterte is in Japan to speak at the 25th International Conference on The Future of Asia and hold talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. (GMA News)
