Keynote Speech of Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III
Sixth UNWTO International Conference on Tourism Statistics
21 June 2017

His Excellency, Dr. Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the Honorable Pali Lehohla, the Statistician General of South Africa, of course our hardworking and charismatic Secretary Wanda Teo of the Philippines’s Department of Tourism, our visiting tourism officers and government statisticians, fellow Filipinos, fellow tourists, Ladies and Gentlemen, good morning and a warm welcome to all of you to the Philippines!

I am extremely honored by your kind invitation to speak before the World Tourism Congress today. I would like to thank our hard-working and energetic Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo for giving me the privilege to take part in the Sixth UNWTO International Conference on Tourism Statistics.

I am happy to learn that the UN World Tourism Organization has taken the initiative to organize these Conferences on Tourism Statistics to formally discuss how statistics can fully measure the impact of tourism in our respective countries and throughout the world.

Speaking of your work, I support your goal of developing an international statistical framework that supports the measurement of sustainable tourism.

As a mathematician myself, I understand the need for a scientific approach to study and address the problems and challenges present in tourism. Tourism is not only an economic activity, it also has social and environmental dimensions. Hence, it is essential that the formulation of policy in Tourism be evidence-based.

As a Filipino, I am proud that the leaders and organizers of this World Tourism Congress have seen it fit to hold the Congress in our country, and in the City of Pasay.

It is a tribute to the capabilities of our Tourism Officials.

It is also a testimonial to the over-all environment obtaining in the country that makes for a suitable venue for serious discussions by, and for lively interactions among, the delegates to the World Tourism Congress.

It is also a signal victory for those who believe that life must go on whatever be the challenges that lie on the way.

Tourism is a significant contributor to the growth of the world economy.

According to the World Tourism Organization, the tourism industry already contributes 9% of the global GDP and accounts for one in eleven jobs worldwide.

The Philippines is experiencing a renaissance of sorts in our tourism industry. Notwithstanding the negative news of late about my country, more and more tourists are coming to experience for themselves our country’s beauty and culture. They hear “It’s more fun in the Philippines!” so they come to experience it for themselves. I say, the Philippines is “YOUR HOME IN ASIA”.

I wish to assure our foreign delegates that the situation in Mindanao that led to the declaration of Martial Law in that region is a temporary situation. The President simply utilized the powers granted to him by the Constitution to protect the people of Mindanao from rebellion. I am confident that once the crisis is over, we will have peace and security in that region which will result in more tourists visiting Southern Philippines. The government has a comprehensive peace plan in place that includes giving greater autonomy to our Bangsamoro brothers and sisters through a new enabling law. Our party is also proposing the adoption of the federal system of government as the long-term solution to the Mindanao situation.

In the Philippines, our Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that the contribution of tourism to our economy was estimated at 8.6% of our GDP in 2016.

In the same year, employment generated by the Philippine tourism industry was estimated at 5.2 million jobs representing 12.8% of the total employment in the country.

This makes tourism the fifth largest employer industry and the third largest dollar earning industry in our country.

Tourism is indeed an engine of growth for the Philippines, as it is in other countries.

The Duterte Administration intends to be also known as the “Golden Age of Infrastructure” and has come up with the slogan “Build, Build, Build!” to capture this emphasis on infrastructure. We will undertake a strategic infrastructure program and tourism infrastructure is going to be an important element of this strategy.

This is why the current administration, with the support of the Philippine Congress, is ready to invest US$ 23 billion in the next 6 years to improve our tourism infrastructure.

Under the government’s new 6-year National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP), major infrastructure development initiatives such as the improvement of airports, adding or upgrading ports for cruise ships, railways, and the establishment of tourism enterprise zones are expected to ease airport and port congestion and promote the development of additional tourism areas across the country.

The Duterte Administration intends to fix many of our country’s age-old problems. This is the reason why we see changes everywhere, up and down, left and right.

One such change is our pursuit of an “Independent Foreign Policy”. We will decide on our own what is best for our sovereign nation. Under this policy, the Philippines will remain to be a peace-loving, responsible, cooperative, and law-abiding member of the international community of nations. We will be a friend to all nations, and we will conduct our foreign policy based on mutual respect.

Our new perspective has warmed our ties with China and Russia. This shift in perspective augurs well for our tourism industry. Our tour operators are already optimistic that more than one million Chinese tourists will visit the Philippines before the year’s end and I have been informed that our islands are becoming more and more popular with our Russian friends.

We need tourists. More tourists mean greater financial benefits to the host community. However, tourism is more than just dollars and cents.

We do need the tourist dollars, but not at the expense of a polluted environment, denuded forests, or displaced indigenous groups. Unfortunately, there are already areas in the country where the local ecology has been severely damaged by mass tourism and the wanton pursuit of profit.

Tourism is a vehicle for poverty reduction, a tool for environmental conservation, an impulse for cultural heritage preservation, and an avenue for strengthening people to people relationships. Tourism also helps improve the quality of life of local communities by creating alternative livelihood and employment.

Hence, a healthy balance must be reached between tourism and the broader social and environmental context.

With the adoption of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), our tourism and statistics experts are once again challenged to create a new framework that will now integrate tourism into economic, social, and environmental measurement standards.

Tourism is a priority development area that deserves greater attention. Focus now should not be on how much money it can contribute to government coffers but rather on how it can improve the overall well-being of the people.

Growth in the tourism sector, therefore, should go together with improved quality of life for all, respect for the environment’s regenerative capacities, and more inclusive decision-making processes.

I am, therefore, honored to be present in this Conference that marks the first attempt to commit to measuring “Sustainable Tourism”.

This conference is proof that Ministries of Tourism across the globe are quickly incorporating the SDGs into their respective tourism development plans.

I earnestly await the proposals from our own Department of Tourism as to how best to incorporate the SDGs in the Philippine setting.

It may interest the UNWTO and the foreign delegates here that we have enshrined the concept of “Sustainable Tourism” in our laws. There is Republic Act 9593 or the Tourism Act of the Philippines recognizes “sustainable tourism development as integral to the national efforts to improve the quality of life of the Filipino people, providing the appropriate attention and support for the growth of this industry.” Thus, the government is mandated “to promote a tourism industry that is ecologically sustainable, responsible, participative, culturally sensitive, economically viable, and ethically and socially equitable for local communities.”

I support the DOT in its policy of not raising tourism targets further until there is sufficient infrastructure to accommodate arrivals. We should have sufficient flights, adequate port facilities, and enough hotel rooms and clean public toilets, among others, before we aggressively market the country. While we promote the country, we should also continue to invest in infrastructure to ensure that all our visitors have a grand experience in the Philippines.

In closing, I would like to express my appreciation for the World Tourism Organization’s decision to designate 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development and for pushing sustainability into the forefront of its discussions.

I am certain that your meeting in Manila will generate numerous views on how governments can practically measure sustainable tourism. It will also create healthy debate on what particular information and what particular data will, in fact, be measured, collected, considered, and integrated.

Your continuing commitment to the reliable measurement of data will ensure that our decisions, as policy makers and legislators, will not be formed by conjecture or emotions, but by accurate, empirical statistical data.

Our goal of “Sustainable Tourism” will help us achieve our vision for a Philippine society which is JUST and FAIR, which SAVES and SHARES, which is SCIENTIFIC and OBJECTIVE, which is PEACEFUL and DEMOCRATIC, which is EDUCATED and HEALTHY, and which is, most of all, HAPPY and FREE, with overflowing LOVE OF GOD AND COUNTRY.

I hope that you will find the time to leave this hotel, to explore and experience for yourself the beauty of the Philippines!

Thank you for helping us in this regard and thank you for your time and attention. A good day to all of you!