PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said that tourism may serve as a potential avenue for collaboration between the Philippines and Czech Republic as he woos Czech nationals to visit the Southeast Asian country.

In his bilateral meeting with Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala on Thursday (Prague time), Marcos Jr. said the Philippines is enhancing its regional airports to transform them into international hubs, aiming to enhance access to local tourist spots.

The Chief Executive added that the tourism industry plays a vital role in revitalizing the economy post-pandemic.

“Hopefully, we will see more of your citizens coming to the Philippines. I can see that this is an area that will continue to increase for us. It’s very happy to welcome friends. Come, visit the Philippines,” Marcos Jr. said.

“We take pride in the Filipino hospitality, and we take pride in our beautiful country, as in, of course, you do. But that’s why I think that this is a third time, an area of third-time development,” Marcos Jr. added.

Marcos also mentioned that the Czech Republic has emerged as an important tourist spot for Filipinos.

Such initiative, he pointed out, is relatively easy area to pursue, because of the larger influx of the Filipino workers in Czech Republic “that will immediately make a very different than we are preparing for that.”

In addition to fostering increased cultural interactions, the President urged Czech companies to engage in Philippine infrastructure projects, particularly in the construction of the nation's entry points.

Marcos Jr.: Overseas Filipino workers are Phl biggest asset

In the same bilateral meeting, Marcos Jr. told Fiala that the overseas Filipino workers serve as the country's biggest asset.

According to the Chief Executive, more European countries now open up their labor market to foreign workers.

He also welcomed the more enhanced people-to-people relationship with the Central European country, as well as its decision to allow more Filipino workers to join its labor market.

Czech Republic recently decided to increase the quota for Filipino workers entering the country starting this May—from 5,500 to almost doubling that from January 2024 to 10,300 per year starting in May 2024.

“[The] increase in the quota gives us an opportunity in the Philippines to have another avenue for our overseas workers who have traditionally have become rather a very large part of our economy and very large part of the contributions that they make to our economy,” Marcos said during the meeting.

“And it’s not only in terms of the remittances that they send back, the money they send back to their families. It is the good performance that they have shown in their host countries. That has been a great advantage to the Philippines, the assimilation of our people to Czech society has become an important and fruitful one,” he pointed out.

The Czech Republic is home to 7,026 Filipinos working in the processing industry, automotive, repairs and appliances, manufacturing, IT communications, real estate, health/wellness, and household service work.

Started in 2018, Czech’s economic migration program allows for the entry and stay of Filipino workers in the country on a year quota: 1,000 Filipino workers per year from 2018; 2,000 per year from 2021; 2,500 per year from November 2022; and 5,500 per year from January 2024.