Philippines, India sign tourism accord

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is eyeing to attract more Indian tourists with the recent signing of a tourism agreement between the two countries.

“We are encouraging more of the tourists from India to come here. They all want to come here,” Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat told The STAR.

On Friday the Philippines, through the Department of Tourism (DOT) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Indian Ministry of Tourism for a tourism cooperation during the visit of Indian president Ram Nath Kovind.

Puyat said the agreement calls for further discussions on how the two countries could increase the number of tourist arrivals for both sides.

India is currently the country’s 11th top source market of foreign arrivals with a total of 91,690 Indian arrivals from January to August this year, a 9.66 percent rise from 83,615 arrivals in the same period last year.

In August alone, arrivals from India jumped 18.01 percent to 11,307 arrivals from 9,576 arrivals in the same month last year.

Asked if the country is seeking to implement a Visa Upon Arrival (VUA) policy for Indian nationals to facilitate easier entry, Puyat said this is for the Bureau of Immigration to decide on.

“When it comes to visa upon arrival, that’s really with the Bureau of Immigration,” Puyat said.

“Of course if you ask us, we want the ease of travel. But of course, we respect the BI,” she said.

Apart from the growing interest from Indian tourists, the Philippines is also gaining attention as a meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) destination.

Earlier this year, the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) reported that the Philippines received the Business and Luxury Travel Mart (BLTM) Award for New Promising MICE Destination for the Indian market at the BLTM 2019, India’s first travel mart dubbed as the leading trade show for Business, MICE and Luxury Travel.