President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. with Tourism Sec. Christina Garcia Frasco at the high-revel roundtable meeting with tourism stakeholders in Japan.
Source: DOT Sec. Christina Garcia Frasco Facebook page
Frasco cites Japan’s value as PH tourism market source
DOT chief thanks PBBM for making tourism a priority, major pillar of PH economy
DELIVERING her opening remarks during the high-level roundtable meeting with President Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos, Jr., Philippine government officials, and Japanese tourism stakeholders, Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco emphasized the importance of Japan as a tourism source market for the Philippines.
Secretary Frasco thanked President Marcos Jr. for his inclusion of the dialogue in his Working Visit to Tokyo, noting that it clearly indicates the “Philippine government’s consideration of tourism as a priority and a major pillar of the country’s economy.”
“As we reboot the travel and tourism industry and under the leadership of our President, Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., we have directed for the easing of protocols into the Philippines. He has ensured that the mandatory mask wearing in the Philippines has now been lifted. The cumbersome One Health Pass has now been abolished and replaced with a more convenient E-Travel Pass platform.
And he has issued a proclamation to promote more long weekends into the Philippines. As well, he has issued a directive for the Philippines to provide an e-visa platform in time to come, as well as provision of value added tax refund program for foreign tourists by 2024,” enthused the Secretary.
In particular, to be able to further tap into the Japanese tourism market and in line with the objective to diversify the tourism product portfolio for the Philippines, Secretary Frasco shared the DOT’s intention to further develop tourism products that are popular among Japanese tourists, including diving, MICE, and education tourism, particularly, learning English and school trips.
“Over the years, the Japanese tourists have come to the Philippines for various reasons. The leading tourism products include general leisure and diving. The Philippines has also gained popularity as a preferred Education tourism destination for learning English and school trips. With the resumption of travel post-pandemic, and the growing interest in sustainable tourism, we are seeing new and innovative programs emerging in school trip modules offered in the marketplace. MICE is also a segment we would like to develop further,” explained Frasco.
Prior to the pandemic, the Tourism Secretary disclosed that Japan was ranked as the country’s fourth biggest international tourism source market, with visitor arrivals tallying 682,788 in 2019.
In 2022, with the progressive opening of borders, the Philippines received 99,557 tourists from Japan.
DOT Sec. Christina Garcia Frasco’s Facebook page
