Manila has potential for tourism growth — Study

MANILA, Philippines — Manila was named among global cities that have room to grow in terms of tourism by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL).

In its Destination 2030: Global cities’ readiness for tourism growth report, WTTC and JLL included Manila in its dawning developers index.

“Dawning developers are cities with an emerging tourism infrastructure, slower tourism growth and lower visitor concentration but have room to grow,” the report said.

Manila is joined by other global cities in the dawning developers category such as Bogota, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Chengdu, Kuala Lumpur, Lima, Moscow, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro and Riyadh.

JLL Philippines earlier cited the Philippine hospitality sector as among markets in the Asia Pacific region seen to attract investors this year, driven by the robust growth of the tourism industry.

“The overwhelming support for tourism that the Philippine government has demonstrated is expected to bring forth a tremendous positive effect on the growth of the real estate industry’s hospitality sector,” JLL Philippines said.

It said that the Asia Pacific region is the only region expecting growth in hotel transaction volumes, anticipating a total of $9.5 billion this year, a 15 percent rise from 2018.  

The Destination 2030 index measures and categorizes 50 global gateway cities into one of five levels of “readiness” and provides actionable solutions to foster sustainable growth in tourism activity.

The levels range from emerging to established market tourism hubs with varying levels of infrastructure.

Apart from the dawning developers level, other categories included in the index are the emerging performers, balanced dynamics, mature performers and mounting pressure.

Delhi, Istanbul and Mexico City are some of the cities categorized under the emerging performers level which refer to cities with an emerging tourism infrastructure, growing tourism momentum and the start of increasing pressures related to tourism growth.

Cities under the balanced dynamic level include Chicago, Munich and Tokyo, among others. These are cities that are often financial hubs, with lower shares of leisure, compared to business travel but an established tourism infrastructure and potential for travel and tourism growth.

Meanwhile, Berlin, London and Sydney are some of the cities cited under the mature performers category, which are cities with strong leisure and/or business travel dynamics and an established tourism infrastructure, but risk of future strains related to visitor volume, infrastructure or activity that is testing readiness for additional growth.

The report also cited Amsterdam, Barcelona and Prague as some of the cities under the mounting pressure category, pertaining to cities with high growth momentum driven by leisure travel and established tourism infrastructure, but face pressures to manage high visitors volume.

“In today’s competitive environment, a holistic understanding of markets and indicators is more important than ever in shaping global investment strategy,” JLL Global Hotels CEO Mark Wynne-Smith said.

“Cities with a comprehensive approach to travel and tourism to ensure they are prepared for future growth are increasingly appealing from an investment standpoint,” Wynne-Smith said.

WTTC president and CEO Gloria Guevarra emphasized the potential of the travel and tourism sector’s contribution to an economy as it may boost GDP and generate jobs.