PH tourism seen to grow 7.6% in 2017

Bohol. INQUIRER FILE / RUBEN NEPALES

BANGKOK, Thailand — The Philippine travel and tourism industry’s direct contribution to the local economy is expected to grow by 7.6 percent this year, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).

In its Travel & Tourism Economic Impact 2017 report, the direct contribution of travel and tourism to the country’s gross domestic product was P1.18 billion in 2016 or 8.2 percent of the country’s GDP.

WTTC said the figure is expected to increase to P1,28 billion this year.

According to the report, direct contribution, reflects the “internal” spending on travel and tourism within a particular country by residents and non-residents for business and leisure purposes as well as government individual spending or spending by government on services directly linked to visitors, such as cultural (e.g. museums) or recreational (e.g. national parks).

Travel and tourism also generated 2,219,000 jobs in 2016 and is expected to grow by 5.3 percent this year. Generated jobs included employment by hotels, travel agents, airlines and other passenger transportation services as well as activities of the restaurant and other leisure industries directly supported by tourists.

WTTC added that money spent by foreign investors, or the visitor exports, contributed a great deal to the country’s economy. In 2016, the country generated P316 billion in visitor exports and is expected to increase by 11.1 percent as the country is expecting to attract 6,534,000 more international tourist arrivals.

However, while tourism figure remains robust, the Philippines still falls below the world average in terms of long-term growth from 2017 to 2027 placing 60 in WTTC’s world rankings.

David Scowsill, WTTC president and CEO, said stressed that for travel and tourism to continue to thrive, “we must focus on three elements—people need to be able to travel, successful businesses and responsible practices.” CBB