Foreign tourists
AWARE of the importance of the dollar-oriented toutrist industry, Filipinos fully support government efforts to attract more foreigners to visit the country in 2023.
And like the highly-successful overseas employment program, the tourist industry is a major pillar of the Philippine economy, bringing in billions of dollars a year.
This year, the Department of Tourism (DOT) aims to attract close to five million foreigners to visit this impoverished Southeast Asian nation of election-crazy people.
DOT Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco, a former town mayor, said that about 2.6 million tourists visited the Philippines last year amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Note that the Philippines just reopened its borders in February 2022 after successfully controlling the spread of the dreaded and deadly coronavirus disease (C0VID-19).
The national government has implemented the “e-travel system” to help the DOT achieve its goal of enticing more tourists in 2023. The system is a one-stop electronic travel declaration system that replaced the “One Health Pass.”
The DOT and the Department of Transportation are also working on the improvement of the NAIA Terminal 2, the Cebu City Pier 1, and the Davao International Airport.
As far as 2023 is concerned, the target is to reach a minimum of 4.8 million international arrivals.
Admittedly, the government, through the DOT, has been doing a great job in boosting the country’s tourism industry.
In the view of various quarters, the Philippines, acknowledged as one of the major tourist destinations in the Asia-Pacific region, is ready to accept more global tourists.
