President Marcos pushes for more tourism-driven infrastructure projects in his second Cabinet meeting
At the second Cabinet meeting, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. cited the need to improve policies and infrastructures to strengthen the country's tourism industry, which in pre-pandemic times contributed at least 13 percent to the national gross domestic product.
Since the Philippines is known for numerous attractive destination for international travelers, which hit over 8 million visitors before the pandemic but took a dive of 28.4 percent during the pandemic because of lockdowns and strict quarantine regulations. Tourism revenues are not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until next year.
To attract more foreign tourists, Marcos took note of how Singapore fared in this particular sector even with limited natural resources. Health and safety assurance is the main concern for any aspiring travelers and Singapore was listed as the 5th most desirable international destination due to its pandemic response, vaccination rates, and limits on restrictions for inbound tourism. On the travel restrictions, Singapore is negotiating with other countries to open the so-called travel bubbles.
Marcos used Singapore as an example of how policy and infrastructure are “so important” in giving a boost to the Philippines’ tourism industry.
“That means that it can be done. We just have to support the plan to develop all of these enabling environments – the policy, conditions, and infrastructure,” Marcos said as he also stressed the need to ease travel through arranging tours, getting drivers, finding a hotel, etc.
The chief executive in the meeting also discussed how healthcare facilities in big tourist destinations could be improved citing the arrangement implemented in known beaches of Hawaii and Thailand.
Additionally, Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco said the Philippines is certainly not at a disadvantage in regards to the availability of natural resources, the wealth of talent, products, and its people.
“But certainly, many measures could be improved as far as policy regulations, both on the national and local level, and proper coordination – to be able to focus on the overall tourist experience from the time that he arrives to the point of entry to the time that he gets to his point of destination,” Frasco said, taking note on how Singapore “mastered” this. “Certainly, to benchmark their policies in this regard would be the direction that we would take per your instructions” Frasco added.
Tags: #Tourism, #Philippineeconomy, #PFMJr