‘Security, infra improvements key to attracting tourism investments’

MANILA, Philippines — Safety and security, as well as infrastructure connectivity, are among of the areas that needs to be addressed to boost the country’s attractiveness to leisure investors and visitors, a property services firm said.

“We believe that solving safety and security issues, streamlining the business registration process, and expediting the implementation of crucial infrastructure projects should enable the current administration to meet or even surpass its visitor arrival target which should result in higher hotel occupancies in major tourist spots across the country and more businessmen investing in the country’s travel and tourism sector,” Colliers International Philippines research manager Joey Roi Bondoc said told The STAR.

“These should sustain the tourism sector’s status as a major driver of the country’s economy,” he added.

Bondoc cited the need to improve the country’s tourism competitiveness in line with luring in more tourism investments into the country, as it would attract more tourists and eventually more investors into the sector.

“This, in turn, should boost hotel occupancy rates and entice local and foreign businessmen to ramp up their leisure-related investments in the country,” Bondoc said.

Based on the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s 2019 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report (TTCR), the Philippines climbed four spots, ranking 75th out of 140 countries with a score of 3.8 in the index, with seven as being the highest score.

While the Philippines had the fastest rate of improvement in the report, Bondoc emphasized that there are still several categories the country should address in bid to further boost its ranking.

Among these is safety and security where the country ranked 135th, lower than its 126th ranking in 2017.

“Government officials must immediately address security threats in the country as failure to do so will definitely dampen the tourism sector’s growth and constrict its potential of generating more jobs and livelihood especially in the countryside,” Bondoc said.

In addition, the government also needs to significantly reduce the number of days and procedures required to start a business to be able to entice more tourism-related enterprises.

“The convoluted bureaucracy has also made the business registration process costly – turning off some local and foreign investors from putting up leisure-related businesses. This cumbersome system relegated the Philippines to 118th place in the “starting a business” category, down from 115th in 2017,” Bondoc pointed out.

Meanwhile, the Philippines improved in the quality of air transport infrastructure as it ranked 59th from 65th in 2017, while it also posted significant growth in its ground and port infrastructure ranking from 107th in 2017 to 93rd in 2019.

“However, the Philippines still needs a lot of catching up to do especially in terms of infrastructure connectivity. The full implementation of the Build Build Build program for the remainder of President Duterte’s term should enable the Philippines to post higher rankings in the future,” Bondoc said.

Tourism Undersecretary Benito Bengzon Jr. earlier said there is a need to improve the country’s air connectivity in order to boost its competitiveness.

“What is important is that we need to accelerate the improvement of the other airports that are now benefiting from the strong penetration rate of low cost carriers,” Bengzon said.

“Because of the low-cost carriers, a lot of tourists are now going straight to the airports near resorts,” he added.

Bengzon earlier emphasized the opportunities brought by the high penetration of low-cost carriers in the ASEAN region.

He said the Philippines should strengthen its promotions in the ASEAN region give the potential to tap these markets brought by improving connectivity.

“We have to be more here in ASEAN,” Bengzon said noting the need to be more present in the short haul markets particularly Southeast Asia.

“When you talk about the ability of the Philippines to compete or when you talk about the ability of the Philippines to get a share of the source market, when you look at Southeast Asia, we have a bigger chance,” Bengzon added.