The Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Japanese Governmentโs Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism (MLITT) have signed a landmark agreement that is seen to expand opportunities for tourism development between the two countries.
This, as DOT Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco and MLIT Minister Tetsuo Saito signed a Memorandum of Cooperation for tourism, the first stand alone cooperation agreement between the two nations.
The contract was exchanged in the presence of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during the latterโs first official visit to the Philippines from November 3 to 4.
Both countries agreed to strengthen and further develop Philippines-Japan ties in the field of tourism by increasing tourist arrivals for both countries from world tourist-generating markets.
Under the cooperation agreement, both countries agreed to strengthen and further develop Philippines-Japan ties in the field of tourism by increasing tourist arrivals for both countries from world tourist-generating markets; encouraging more tourists to visit various tourist destinations and attractions, including rural areas in each other’s country; encouraging mutual visits and traffic of high-value-added travelers to increase tourism consumption; encouraging healthy growth of tourism industry of Philippines and Japan especially on the aspects of education, culture, gastronomy, sustainable tourism, and adventure.
This shall increase tourism revenues for our stakeholders, usher in more tourism investments, and create more jobs.
โ๐๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ ๐๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฐ๐ด ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ดโ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ข๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ต๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ถ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ, ๐ข๐ช๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ต๐บ, ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐จ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐บ, ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ถ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ด, ๐ข๐ด ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฐ๐ด, ๐๐ณ.,โ Frasco said.
Japan is considered as one of the countryโs top source of visitors ranking third as of November 2, 2023 with nearly a quarter of a million arrivals into the Philippines.
Additionally, both countries will engage in the exchange of information on matters related to the industry; education and training; ensure means of mutual traffic through the enhancement of air and sea connectivity, and joint promotional programs, as well as enhance transport connectivity to sustain people-to-people exchange and the influx of travelers, and ensure tourist safety.
The Philippines and Japan also agreed to cooperate in terms of ensuring safety among tourists while they are staying in their respective countries.
A joint working group composed of senior officials from the DOT and MLITT will be convened for the proper implementation of the MOC which will run for five years, and is subject for renewal.
The Philippines and Japan formally established diplomatic relations in July 1956.ย
