Tourist arrivals hit 3.7 million in H1

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines remains on track to hitting the 7.4 million foreign arrivals target this year as tourist arrivals increased by 10.40 percent in the first half of 2018, the Department of Tourism (DOT) has reported.

Data released by the DOT on Thursday showed tourist arrivals reached 3.7 million, higher than the 3.4 million posted in the same period last year.

In June alone, the arrival figure rose by 11.35 percent or to 528,747 from 474,854 in June last year.

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said the positive arrival figure is a clear indication that the target of 7.4 million tourist arrivals by the end of year is achievable.

“We are actually on track. We are halfway through the year and we are exactly halfway of our National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP) target arrivals,” Puyat said.

She said that DOT’s partnership with the private sector and intensified convergence with relevant government agencies served as impetus in sustaining the upward trajectory of foreign arrivals.

“The DOT’s continuous marketing promotions, aggressive actions to create new air routes and develop new tourism products, travel facilitation and confidence in tourism investments drummed up the industry and resulted in this stellar performance. But I would like to emphasize that this will not be possible without the consolidated efforts of all stakeholders,” Puyat said.

Early this month, Tourism Undersecretary and spokesman Benito Bengzon Jr. said that foreign arrivals continued to grow in the first five months of the year despite the closure of Boracay to tourists.

The Boracay closure, which started on April 26, slowed down foreign arrivals in May, which inched up a mere .94 percent to 537,743 arrivals.

“We’d like to think that the .94 percent growth is still respectable, considering you have closed one of the most iconic destinations in the Philippines, which was home to about two million foreign and domestic visitors last year,” Bengzon earlier said.

He attributed the growth to the strong arrivals in the first four months of the year as well as to the influx of Chinese tourists.

China remained the fastest growing source market in the first five months, growing at a rate of 43.81 percent, with a total of 559,289 Chinese tourist arrivals.

This accounts for 17.60 percent of total foreign arrivals during the period.

Bengzon said Chinese travelers are still mainly drawn to the country’s resort destinations such as Cebu, Bohol, Boracay and Palawan.

“This explains why over the last several years, we had a large amount of chartered flights to these destinations and the traffic is not only coming from the major cities in China. They are also coming from the second and third tier cities in China,” he said.

Tourism research

Meanwhile, the DOT is planning to promote tourism research as it calls for proposals for its 2018 Tourism Research Grant.

The agency said individual research proposals eligible for financial assistance must be aligned with Puyat’s policy direction for the current year, which is to promote farm and culinary tourism.

“Managed by the DOT office of tourism development planning, research and information management, this new program seeks to develop a Philippine journal of tourism research studies and other related topics,” the DOT said.

It said the grant aims to foster evidence-based planning, decision-making and policy formulation.

The grant is available to Filipinos who are bona fide graduate and postgraduate students, faculty members and tourism practitioners currently enrolled or affiliated with any academic institution or tourism organization.

“Institutions, societies, universities, NGOs and civil society groups are not eligible to apply as well as the officials and staff of the Department of Tourism and its attached agencies,” the DOT said.

The agency started accepting applications and proposals to the DOT-tourism research grant program on July 2 and would continue to accept submissions until July 31.

Among the requirements needed are a duly accomplished application form, a research proposal with abstract and proof of enrollment, employment, or affiliation with their corresponding organizations or institutions.