Press Release
February 17, 2014

TOURISM IS FASTEST WAY TO COMBAT UNEMPLOYMENT - ANGARA

Attract the "dimsum, sushi and the kimchi" tourist market and create jobs in the process.

This was the suggestion of Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara on how to trim the 27 % joblessness rate , by luring more tourists, especially from Japan, Korea and China, which last year combined for half of the 4.6 million tourist arrivals.

With almost three in every 10 employable Filipinos without work, Angara said the challenge is to create more jobs the fastest .

He cited tourism as one that can "incubate jobs" in the shortest time . "An investment of as little as P100,000 can already create one job in the tourism sector. In light industries, it would need P10 million to create one job."

In tourism, the basic assets like "sand, sea, surf and sun" are already there, the lawmaker exclaimed. " What is needed is to build the support infrastructure around them, like roads to where these are and places where the tourists can stay."

Despite the lack of tourism infrastructure, the Philippines has been breaking tourism arrival records, he said. "Not even calamities like Yolanda can deter tourists from coming in to find out for themselves if it is indeed more fun in the Philippines ."

Last year, the Department of Tourism recorded 4.7 million international arrivals , up 10 percent from 2012 .

At 1.17 million, Koreans made up a quarter of all arrivals. The Japanese was third after the Americans with 433,705 of them visiting the country last year .

And despite the diplomatic tensions caused by Manila and Beijing's competing claims over West Philippine Sea , 426,352 Chinese tourists came last year. " The three East Asian countries , the so-called dimsum, kimchi and sushi markets, remain our biggest market."

According to Angara, foreign tourists spent $4.4 billion , or P186.15 billion, last year.

Their average daily expenditure also increased by 9 % to $102, he added . "Koreans spent more than the average tourist, plunking in $141 a day ."

But the Korean tourist's average spending in the Philippines of P40,000 is still below the Canadians who each spent an average of P62,000 per visit.

Angara cited tourism receipts in pushing for tourism as the country's biggest hope in generating jobs. "It is the low-hanging fruit, so to speak."

"At present, one in nine filled jobs in the country is in our hotels, resorts, restaurants and tourist transport sector. The tourism industry employs 4.2 million and it still can grow with the right policies, projects and promotions," Angara stressed.

"Nandyan na kasi ang natural assets like sunsets and good beaches. Di natin kailangan mag-import ng white sand. Iyan ang ginawa ng Diyos. Dapat dagdagan ang equity na gawa ng tao , tulad ng magandang daan, " he pointed out.

"Sec Jimenez seems to be pushing the right buttons but undoubtedly, he needs more support especially in the public works and infrastructure side," the vice chair of the Senate committee on tourism explained.

But while visitor arrivals in the country constantly continue to improve, Angara lamented the fact that RP still ranks low in comparison with its ASEAN neighbors ( based on 2012 United Nations World Tourism Organization) like Malaysia (25.03M), Thailand (22.35M), Indonesia (8.04M) and Vietnam (6.85M).

Angara said through a "different PPP" , or what he described as the "people- private-public partnership," the Philippines can maximize its tourism potentials.

"We should increase our promotions budget, see to it that the P14.5 billion allotted for roads in tourism areas this year will be spent well and on time, lift the ban which prevents our carriers from flying to the lucrative US market, fix our gateway airports, and improve tourist security, " he emphasized.

"We should also augment our P2 billion tourism budget this year with remittances from travel tax collections. The latter at P3.5 billion is bigger than what DoT will get from the national budget this year, " the neophyte senator added.

He noted that the Social Weather Station survey of December 2013 survey pegged joblessness at 27.5 percent, or about 12.1 million adults.

The best way to trim unemployment rate is to really leverage our tourist draws into job-creating activities and enterprises , Angara said.

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