Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco underscored the outstanding accomplishments of the Philippine tourism industry during the inaugural Philippine Tourism & Hotel Investment Summit 2024.
The event, held at the New World Makati Hotel recently, gathered key industry leaders, stakeholders, and investors.
“It is the spending of our tourists that ultimately benefits our economy and provides livelihood toFilipinos.”
“Since the onset of the pandemic, metrics for tourism performance and success have evolved. Globally, tourism performance is measured by visitor receipts, as it is the spending of our touriststhat ultimately benefits our economy and provides livelihood to Filipinos. I assure you, ladies andgentlemen, Philippine tourism is performing phenomenally,” Frasco declared, highlighting a decisive shift from traditional metrics such as tourist arrivals.
The tourism chief reported that tourism investments in 2023 totaled ₱509 billion, reflecting an impressive growth of over 34% compared to 2022, and surpassing the 11.7% growth of the entire Philippine economy.
The accommodation sector was the largest contributor, accounting for 51% of the total investments.
“The power of tourism to improve the lives of Filipinos through job creation rests on two criticaland interdependent drivers of tourism growth: tourism expenditures and tourism investments.”
“The power of tourism to improve the lives of Filipinos through job creation rests on two criticaland interdependent drivers of tourism growth: tourism expenditures and tourism investments,” she stressed.
The investment summit was organized by the Philippine Hotel Owners Association – PHOA.
The tourism head emphasized the significant growth in both domestic and inbound tourism expenditures in 2023, which contributed substantially to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and job creation.
The sector employed over 6.21 million Filipinos, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
In a strategic move to expand the country’s hotel infrastructure, she teased the launch of the Philippine Hotel Industry Strategic Action Plan (PHISAP) in partnership with PHOA.
