EDITORIAL - Phl is really making its presence felt in tourism

It’s good that the Philippines is fast catching up with its neighbors in Southeast Asia in terms of tourist arrivals, as the country continues to attract more overseas visitors this year, courtesy of the government’s aggressive promotional offensive.

Data from the Department of Tourism showed international visitors increased 15.04% to 6.8 million in the first eight months of the year. The hike is almost one million from 5.9 million for same period in 2018.

Tourism authorities attributed the growing foreign arrivals from January to October to better accessibility and robust marketing of the industry’s “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” campaign, which captures the interest of the international community.

“The collective efforts and resolve of the whole tourism industry have paid off with the continued increase in our visitor arrivals and tourist receipts as well as recognition from major international award giving bodies,” Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat was quoted by The Philippine STAR as saying.

As usual, South Korea is still the country‘s number one source of foreign tourists this year with 1,609,172 arrivals. China is a close second with 1.5 million arrivals while the United States and Japan copped the third and fourth places with 872,335 and 569,625 respectively.

Hopefully, the country will continue to entice more visitors from abroad as the government intensifies its promotional campaign spreading global awareness about the country’s beauty and rich history.

Of course, poor infrastructure remains a major roadblock to the country’s effort to make its presence felt as a major tourist destination. For one, the absence of a modern transport system makes it difficult for tourists to venture further into the countryside.

However, the growing tourist arrivals these past several years only means the world is beginning to take notice of the Philippines as a worthy destination. The country really has a lot to offer aside from being home to some of the world’s finest beaches. All it has to do is improve its image if it wants to stay in the tourism industry’s cutthroat competition.