By ANALOU DE VERA
TOURISM Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat has committed that all programs, projects, and activities in her department will focus on creating a culture of sustainable tourism.
Speaking during a roundtable discussion with Manila Bulletin editors and reporters yesterday, Puyat underscored that with the tourism industry’s “increasing influence” on the country’s economic and cultural development, it “can also be a force in driving sustainable development in the country.”
Puyat said that tourism is indeed a major contributor in the Philippines’ economic growth.
Citing a report from the Philippine Statistics Authority, Puyat said that the tourism sector has contributed 12.2 percent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product or an equivalent of R1.929 trillion last year. The said figure was 24.2 percent higher as compared to the tourism sector’s contribution in 2016.
Puyat also said that the tourism sector also employed about 5.3 million last year, which was 13.06 percent of the Philippines total employment.
Despite the closure of the world-famous Boracay Island, the DoT has reported that the country’s visitor arrivals have increased by 9.74 percent for the period of January to July of this year or 4.3 million visitors, as compared to the 3.92 million in the same period in 2017.
Puyat said that South Korea was the country’s top source market followed by China, United States, Japan, and Australia.
But from all these figures, Puyat stressed that “it is not the numbers that matter most, but ultimately how to strike a balance between business opportunities and our social responsibilities.”
As she champions sustainable tourism, Puyat said that the rehabilitation of Boracay is a “pilot undertaking on sustainable tourism.”
“Dubbed as one of the best islands in the world, the six-month closure of Boracay was considered a bold move on the government’s part, as it feared to severely affect the tourism industry as a whole… It also showed the political will of our President,” she said.
Puyat said that they hope that Boracay will be a model for sustainable tourism. She pointed out that the soft opening of Boracay is just among the several phases of the rehabilitation efforts of the Interagency Task Force.
“We will gradually open the island to give to give way to the completion of ongoing rehabilitation projects such as road expansion, drainage, and sewer lines constructions, and giving the island ample time to rest,” she said.
