Tourism collab with Czech eyed

PRAGUE, Czech Republic — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said tourism may serve as a potential avenue for collaboration between the Philippines and the 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 improve access to local tourist spots.

The tourism industry, he said, 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 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.

He said the Czech Republic has emerged as an important tourist spot for Filipinos.

Such initiative, he pointed out, is a relatively easy area to pursue because of the larger influx of Filipino workers in the Czech Republic.

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

In the same bilateral meeting, Marcos Jr. told Fiala that the overseas Filipino workers are the country’s biggest asset.

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

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

The 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 become rather a very large part of our economy and a very large part of the contributions that they make to our economy,” Marcos said during the meeting.