Visitor arrivals in 2016 fall short of govts 6-M target

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo - FEBRUARY 5, 2017

THE Philippiness Department of Tourism (DOT) has asked its counterparts in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(Asean) to help spread the word on the many exciting events that will happen in the country this year.

This will help boost visitor arrivals in the Philippines, especially from its neighboring countries, of which contributed
461,698 tourists in 2016.

This developed as the DOT released its year-end visitor arrivals report, which showed 5.97 million tourists coming to the
Philippines from January to December 2016. Visitor receipts, likewise, registered only a slight 1.11-percent growth to
P230.13 billon in 2016. The shortfall in visitors may be attributed to the slight slowdown in Chinese arrivals following the
International Court of Arbitrations ruling last July that China did not own the islands and atolls in the South China Sea.

Following that ruling, the Beijing government discouraged its citizens to travel to the Philippines, which resulted in
millions of pesos in lost revenues reported by hotels and resorts in Cebu, Bohol and Boracay, as well as the suspension of
chartered ights between certain points in China and resort areas of the Philippines via Philippine carriers.

During the recent Asean Tourism Forum (ATF), Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo presented major events that
would be happening in the Philippines, including the recently concluded Miss Universe pageant, the third Madrid Fusion
Manila, and the sixth United Nations World Tourism Organization International Conference on Tourism Statistics. Also
ongoing are Asean meetings; the Philippines assumed the chairmanship of the regional body this year.

Pursuant to the Asean Tourism Strategic Plan, we would like to emphasize the importance of Asean working assiduously
to ensure that a sustainable and inclusive growth path for tourism will be achieved. We must develop programs and
policies to improve the competitiveness of Asean as a tourist destination, and to promote Asean a single destination, Teo
stressed to her regional counterparts during the ATF.

The Asean is comprised of 10 member-countries, namely, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia,
Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. According to the DOT report, arrivals from South Korea hit
1.48 million in 2016, up 10 percent from its arrivals in 2015. The market also accounted for 24.72 percent of total arrivals in
2016.

The United States remained as the second top market, with 869,463 visitor arrivals, up some 11.6 percent from the 2015,
and accounting for 14.57 percent of total arrivals.Despite the
temporary slowdown in arrivals in the third quarter of 2016, the Chinese market still managed to grab the third spot, with
675,663 arrivals, up a staggering 37.65 percent from 2015, and representing a market share of 11.32 percent.

Other markets that followed were: Japan, with 535,238 arrivals; Australia, with 251,098 arrivals; Taiwan, with 229,303
arrivals; Singapore, with 176,057 arrivals; Canada, with 175,631 arrivals; the United Kingdom, with 173,299 arrivals; and
Malaysia, with 139,133 arrivals.

We dont have to look far to nd what we are looking for. In 2016 115 million projected international arrivals can be
attributed to the Asean countries, Teo said. Let us not forget that our neighbors, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and
Malaysia, for instance, are considered af uent nations and major outbound travel sources, she added.

While no data was made available by the DOT of Asean arrivals in 2016, cumulative number of tourists from January to
November 2016 indicated Singapore delivered the most number of arrivals for the Philippines, with 161,194 visitors;
followed by Malaysia (128,077); Thailand (44,372); Indonesia (40,651); Vietnam (31,555); Brunei (7,378); Myanmar (6,832);
Cambodia (3,278); and Laos (1,112).

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Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

F O LLO W U S O N I N STA G R AM
@ B MSOC I A LM ED IA