MANILA: The Philippine government has announced that attracting tourists from the Middle East and neighboring Muslim-majority countries is among its top priorities for 2023.
The Philippines, known for its white-sand beaches, diving spots, and rich culture, is heavily dependent, economically, on its hospitality sector. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly 8.3 million foreigners visited the country per year, and in 2019 — according to government data — the sector generated around $44 billion, about 13 percent of the country’s GDP.
But most tourism destinations in the country were forced to shut down when the pandemic started, and foreign arrivals slumped by 82 percent.
Tourism finally started to rebound this year, following the lifting of restrictions, and by Dec. 19, official data showed that nearly 2.5 million foreign tourists had visited the Philippines in 2022.
To increase the number of visitors further, the country is going to focus next year on facilitating tourists from Muslim-majority countries, especially in the Middle East and neighboring Indonesia and Malaysia, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco told reporters during the tourism department’s year-end media briefing earlier this week.
“We won’t just focus on continuing to promote halal tourism among halal tourism-accredited establishments in Mindanao, but will be expanding accreditation to establishments across the Philippines,” she said, referring to the predominantly Catholic country’s southern region, where the majority of the Philippine Muslim community live.
“We are very conscious of developing opportunity markets where this type of tourism may be attractive and that includes Malaysia, Indonesia, (and) our friends in the Middle East,” Frasco continued.
She added that she had visited Saudi Arabia earlier this month, met key industry players, and pitched the Philippines’s viability as a tourist destination.
Frasco said she had met with Saudi Deputy Tourism Minister Haifa Al-Saud during her Riyadh trip, and had discussed potential areas of cooperation in training Arabic-speaking tour guides in the Philippines and developing halal tourism portfolios.
Saudi Arabia was the top Middle East tourist source market for the Philippines before the pandemic. Currently, it ranks 23rd, with slightly over 9,400 arrivals since the Southeast Asian nation reopened in February.
President Ferdinand Marcos has identified tourism as a priority under his administration, and Frasco said that the Department of Tourism is aiming to attract 4.8 million foreign visitors next year.
Last week, the government introduced the “Bisita (Visitor) Be My Guest” program to make Philippine nationals, especially overseas Filipino workers, their country’s tourism ambassadors.
As most OFWs live and work in the Middle East, the project is also expected to help increase arrivals from the region.
