Philippine tourism industry bounced back in 2021

Asean News Published 1 year ago on 21 April 2022 | Author TIN Media
PHILIPPINE:

The Philippines’ tourism and travel industry bounced back in 2021, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), which also forecast that the sector’s contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) will grow by almost seven percent over the next decade.

At a press conference yesterday, WTTC president and chief executive officer Julia Simpson said that based on their latest economic impact report, the Philippine tourism sector’s contribution to GDP is seen to grow by 6.7 percent by 2032.

Simpson said this exceeds the expected overall economy average growth rate of 5.6 percent.

The WTTC study also found that the industry’s contribution to GDP could be worth more than $155 million in 10 years, accounting for 21.4 percent of the economy.

“With travel and tourism employment forecast to grow annually by an average of three percent over the next 10 years, nearly three million new jobs could be created, accounting for 21.5 percent of all jobs in the Philippines,” Simpson added.

The WTTC said the Philippines’ tourism industry contributed $41 billion to the economy in 2021.

This is 129.5 percent higher compared to the figure in 2020, the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, which saw an 81 percent reduction from the 2019 figure of $93 billion.

There was also a 20.5 percent rise in the number of tourism jobs, for a total of 7.8 million.

“Our expert analysis shows that the economy has turned a corner and is firmly on the road to recovery,” Simpson said.

At the same press conference, Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat said the country is already seeing signs of recovery.

While she admitted that the 2019 levels of tourism in the country could not be attained soon, the country is ”getting there.”

“We are also still working on making [travel] easier and seamless for all travelers,” she said.

From Feb. 10 to April 17, the Department of Tourism reported about 272,000 foreign arrivals.