Gordon: ME tension may boost tourism

The tensions surrounding Iraq and last year’s Sept. 11 attacks could help to revive the Philippines’ struggling tourism industry by boosting intra-Asian travel, the country’s tourism minister said yesterday.

The attacks on the United States and the threat of war against Iraq have made tourists reluctant to travel long-haul, Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon told the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines.

The economic recession in Japan is also helping because "the Japanese can’t travel to Europe because it’s too expensive," while others "don’t want to stray too far," he said.

While "China has hit the travel bug," many of its tourists are still reluctant to travel too far because of financial or language considerations, he said.

Tourist arrivals in the Philippines fell 5.3 percent last year to 1.8 million because of a spate of kidnappings by the Abu Sayyaf Muslim guerrilla group, which seized 20 tourists, including three Americans, two of whom were later killed.

But arrivals from Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore have been "growing dramatically," by up to 40 percent in the case of the Koreans, Gordon said.

He said the Philippines would target its tourism promotion budget at China, the 7.3 million Filipinos who have emigrated principally to North America and at the untapped tourist market from India. – AFP