MORE than two million foreign tourist arrivals have been recorded in the Philippines this year, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said.
“As of today, we have already received 2.1 million international arrivals into the Philippines,” Frasco said during the 2022 Asia CEO Awards ceremony on Tuesday, Nov. 22.
The record surpasses the government’s year-end target of 1.7 million foreign arrivals to the country.
Frasco also noted multiple government plans to improve the country’s major gateways to entice more arrivals.
These include “tourist rest areas” in every region, which will house “clean and decent” restrooms, a tourist information center, and a pasalubong center.
The DOT, together with the Department of Information and Communications Technology, are also developing a tourism lifestyle app.
The app, Frasco said will provide tourists a “convenient way with which they can book all the aspects of their trip into and around the Philippines.”
“We are no longer interested in reclaiming pre-pandemic position. Rather, we are interested in exceeding this position and allowing the Philippines to claim a primary position, tourism-wise, in the ASEAN as well as globally,” she noted.
During a world tourism event in London, Frasco earlier said that the Marcos administration eyes to develop all tourist destinations in the country as the sector bounces back from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The chief mandate given by the President is that tourism is a priority as far as his administration is concerned, and having identified this priority has given a lot of hope to a much-battered sector. We have now begun to see the results of this hope that has reverberated across all sectors, in that, we have already surpassed our international arrivals target as of this year. The President has also very clearly indicated the necessity of equalizing tourism product, promotion and development across all of our regions, in that, no tourist destination gets left behind, as far as development is concerned,” she said. (ABS-CBN News)
