Tourism: A fun, booming biz in PH

—Photos taken from Bernadette Romulo-Puyat’s Facebook account

(First of two parts)

One would have to be living in a cave to miss her seemingly boundless energy, her contagious enthusiasm, and deep passion for what she does at the Department of Tourism.

Never mind the long hours of having to hustle from one event to another, of needing to handle the complexities of running a government agency and of course, being at the end of disparaging comments from naysayers and critics. But truth be told, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat is a picture of grace and substance, aptly heading a department at quite an opportune time when the Philippine travel and tourism industry is in the cusp of an exciting era.

“Philippine tourism is at its most exciting times. The good news is, the Philippines has kept a high profile in the world tourism radar. We are still among the sought-after destinations by many foreign travelers. In fact, foreign tourist arrivals to the country continue to grow by leaps and bounds,” Puyat said in a recent interview with Inquirer Property.

“Things are looking up for the Philippines’ tourism industry as it slowly but surely realizes its high potentials, a consistent trend indicated by the monthly and yearly increases in international visitor arrivals. We are confident that the collective efforts of our stakeholders, the government and the private sectors have likewise shown improved competitiveness in terms of increased accessibility and refreshed marketing, and services, highlighting the unique Filipino brand of hospitality,” she explained.

President Duterte and Puyat graced the opening of dusitD2
Hotel in Davao City.

Record high arrivals

Puyat pointed out that with foreign visitor arrivals reaching an all-time high at 7.2 million—8.27 percent higher than 2017’s inbound figures of 6.62 million—the world has started to recognize the Philippines as a must-visit destination in Asia. In fact, the growth of Philippine tourism has surpassed the global and regional averages, according to data from the 2018 United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) World Tourism Barometer.

“The DOT is optimistic (of) meeting its goal of 10 million foreign tourist arrivals for 2022. After all, we are what many other countries say as the next big thing in Asian travel. We are confident with the UNWTO projection for Philippine tourism, which sees tourist arrivals in the country to rise by 11 percent, climbing at least five notches from previous statistics,” the tourism chief disclosed.

And there are more than enough reasons to believe this is achievable. Puyat noted that Philippine tourism kept exceeding the agency’s expectations, as visitor arrivals hit record high last year—despite the difficulties and interruptions like the 6-month closure of Boracay.

“All key tourism markets are bullish for the first seven months of this year, totaling 4.85 million, and posting a 12.36 percent increase over the same period last year. Overall, we are on track of our goal of 8.2 million (tourists) by yearend. We have, in fact, already achieved 50 percent of our target. And with our improved connectivity and capacity, we are definitely going to see an even stronger growth year-on-year. And by the looks of it and if all goes as planned, it seems that we will not only reach our goal, we might even top it,” Puyat said.

Puyat at the “Meet the Inquirer Multimedia” forum

Reaping the benefits

Such a bullish outlook is shared by many real estate developers who are now reaping the benefits of the country’s growing travel and tourism industry. Many are aggressively ramping up their respective expansion plans both in Metro Manila and the provinces to cash in on the opportunities presented by this boom.

Colliers International Philippines earlier reported the opening of about 500 new hotel rooms in Metro Manila alone during the first half of the year. Among the hotels completed included Megaworld’s Hotel Lucky Chinatown in Binondo, Seda Hotel BGC Tower 2, Seda Residences Ayala North Exchange, and Hop Inn Tomas Morato.

Based on its estimates, Colliers said it expects an aggressive completion of homegrown hotel brands by national developers with another 10,000 hotel rooms to be made available from 2019 to 2022, or an average of 2,500 units a year.

“We see an average occupancy of 70 percent from 2020 to 2022 as the substantial rise in hotel supply is likely to be absorbed by the growth of foreign arrivals in the country. This growth should be supposed by the tourism department’s aggressive international marketing efforts and government’s efforts to expand and modernize more airports across the country,” Colliers further added.

Puyat actively promotes the Philippines in forums abroad (above) and tours the country to look at the different livelihood benefiting from tourism (below).