MANILA - THE Philippines is aiming to double tourism revenues in six years while avoiding the mass-market route taken by some of its South-east Asian neighbours, the country's new tourism minister told AFP.
The archipelago of more than 7,000 islands boasts some of the world's most beautiful white-sand beaches but annual tourist revenues are a paltry US$2.25 billion (S$3.1 billion), Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim said in an interview. 'We want double that, at least,' said Mr Lim, a former high-end resort developer who was appointed to President Benigno Aquino's cabinet on June 30.
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land estimates that its country will earn 430 billion baht (US$18.4billion) from tourism in 2010, but Mr Lim said 'I'm not sure whether I would like to emulate the Thai model. 'I would like to go for quality tourism and just make up for the lack of (tourist) numbers in revenues,' he said. Unbridled tourism is also bad because the environment suffers. So we are very careful about the type of tourism we want. The people who come for culture, history and nature, maybe we can receive them.' While insisting backpackers were still welcome, Mr Lim noted that they did not spend a lot, adding that 'they leave waste.' The timeframe for doubling revenues is the six-year term of Mr Aquino's presidency.Just over three million tourists visited the country last year, down 3.9 per cent from 2008 as tourism worldwide retreated amid the global financial crisis. By contrast, tourist arrivals in Thailand, the industry leader in South-east Asia, fell only 2.68 per cent to 14.15 million last year, according to Thai government data.
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Mr Lim said the Philippines tourism industry had terrific potential, despite large areas of the south remaining off-limits to foreigners because of Muslim insurgents' penchant for kidnapping. He insisted the Philippines had fine-white beach sand superior to anything that its neighbours could offer.
'The beaches in the Philippines are better than Indonesia or Thailand,' he said. However, there were many areas that needed to be improved to lure the high-paying tourists. Improving air access and customer service, educating rude and at times dishonest taxi drivers, building good link roads and developing niche markets were some of the new government's strategies, according to Mr Lim. -- AFP
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