THE Philippines is planning to invest $23 billion in tourism infrastructure between now and 2022, when the President’s term ends, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.
Finance Undersecretary Grace Karen Singson said the investment is needed to realize the Duterte administration’s National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP), which is to make the sector “not only sustainable and highly competitive in the region but also socially responsible to propel inclusive growth.”
Singson said the proposed NTDP investments cover road networks, airports, cruise ports, railway, site infrastructure, tourism enterprise zones, transport units, accommodation facilities, and aircraft acquisition.
She said that under the NTDP, the government has targeted to build as much as 2,620 kilometers of tourism roads over the next six years, from a baseline of 900 kilometers, which will require an investment of $2 billion.
“As many renowned tourist sites in the Philippines, such as the Banaue Rice Terraces, the Chocolate Hills and Mt. Apo require long road travel, the Tourism Development Plan has also included the upgrading and construction of access roads to tourism sites and tourism development areas,” Singson said at the recent 11th Asean Finance Ministers’ Investor Seminar in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Singson, the undersecretary of the DOF for Privatization and Special Concerns, represented Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III at the forum of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
She said that as an Asean member, the Philippines can benefit from the regional bloc’s actions towards greater connectivity, especially in terms of air and sea travel, as well as improving travel facilitation, such as the full implementation of the Asean lanes.
“Moreover, the high level of intra-Asean tourism,” which accounts for 47 percent of visitors’ origin, “provides the opportunity to harmonize Asean tourism quality and standards that could be a precursor to a certain ‘Asean brand’ that the region could roll out to the global tourism market,” Singson said.
According to Singson, developing the tourism industry is integral to the Duterte administration’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda as this sector is the third biggest contributor to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) that accounted for five million jobs in 2015, mostly in the areas of transport and hospitality services, representing 12.7 percent of the country's total employment.
She said the 10-point agenda provides for accelerated spending in infrastructure from 3 percent to over 5 percent of the GDP, “and we believe this will be a boost to tourism infrastructure.
“In the Philippines, we recognize the need to develop our tourism industry, as its importance to the Philippine Economy has grown. Tourism has become the third largest contributor to the Philippines’ GDP, after the trade and real estate Sectors. As GDP growth for the Philippines reached 5.2 percent in 2015, tourism accounted for 1.11 percentage points of the increase,” Singson said.
Singson said the government’s goal is to double the number of foreign tourist arrivals, increase tourism revenues by 90 percent and generate 14.4 percent of total Philippine jobs from the tourism sector by the time Duterte steps down in 2022.
Hence, she said, the NTDP is anchored on major infrastructure development initiatives over the next five years that include the improvement of airports in 11 tourism gateways.
These would involve the rehabilitation, construction of access roads, and the expansion of capacity to service more domestic and international flights, she noted.
Singson said that in terms of attracting tourism investments, the Philippines is promoting flagship Tourism Enterprise Zones (TEZs) “through master planning, provision of basic infrastructure and grant of incentives.”
The country has, so far, only two TEZs in Luzon, in Rizal Park and in Mt. Samat; one in Central Philippines in Panglao Island, Bohol; one in Western Philippines in San Vicente, Palawan; and one in Southern Philippines in Bucas Grande, Surigao, DOF said. (SDR/Sunnex)