Dubai: Expenditures of foreign visitors to the Philippines doubled from 4.3 percent share to total exports in 2010, to 8.2 percent in 2015, reaching P306.6 billion for 2015, according to the 2015 Philippine Tourism Satellite Accounts released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on June 15, 2016.
Foreign tourist arrivals was third among the biggest export items of the country in 2015, giving tourism an 8.2 percent share of total exports of goods and services of the Philippines.
In terms of the economy’s top achievers, tourism climbed to third place, while the trade industry took first place, and real estate, second place, as propellers of GDP growth for 2015.
According to the same PSA 2015 report, as an employment generator, tourism industries employed about 4.98 million people, with the Passenger Transport Sector having 36 percent, and Accommodation and Food Beverage sector with 34.8 percent of total employment.
“Looking back, the positive outlook of the industry, the harmonious public and private partnership, a good marketing campaign and the strong government support that the DoT received allowed tourism to reach the economic heights where it is today,” DoT Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez, Jr. said.
“The business is good, you only have to keep the momentum going,” Secretary Jimenez stressed when he spoke recently on tourism as a rising industry of the Philippine economy at a recent conference in Zambales.
“To maintain the industry’s growth, the 2016-2022 National Tourism Development Plan is presently being finalised for presentation to this administration, before it ends, and to the new administration for approval. This should help sustain the strong first quarter growth in tourist arrivals and help the country meet its target of 6.5 million tourists by yearend,” Secretary Jimenez added.
