Over two million international visitors had landed in the Pearl of the Orient Seas as of April this year. Of the stats, about 117,000 were kababayan OFWs. By the end of June, we can fairly assume that the figure would have breached 2.1-million total foreign visitors. Compared to the 8.290 million who came in 2019, we can say that much is missing.

On average, of the four major visitors, Koreans spent the most at P12 billion, next were the Americans at P4.3 billion, China at P2.15 billion and, lastly, Canadians who poured in P1.7 billion.

Needing perhaps less effort to campaign for more arrivals, after the Covid pandemic, Tourism Secretary Christina G. Frasco is lucky to be in the driver’s seat during the so-called “revenge travel” period. Otherwise, the figures might have been smaller.

This time, surprisingly, the foreign tourists don’t mind the ridiculous worst-airport tag attached to our main gateway. Of course, personally, per my recent travel to the EU, I strongly disagree with the tag because I am convinced that the Orly Airport of Paris is far worse than the NAIA and, add to that, one carrier, Vueling Air, is far more disgusting compared to our relatively small carriers.

The Philippines is a showcase of natural beauty teeming with fresh bodies of water, beaches, mountain ranges, and other tourist attractions. Not only endowed with rich and natural wonders, it is also home to rich cultural and historic sites.

Cruise tourism offers good potential. With the aggressive resumption of cruise tourism, the national government is opening the tourism industry with more available destinations in pursuit of better economic conditions for our people. Per tourist arrivals data, the country welcomed a total of 44,000 cruise tourists in May. The target for 2024 is 300,000 cruise tourist arrivals.

According to the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), it is working to speed up the construction of dedicated terminals to facilitate the entry of cruise travelers around the country. To entice more cruise tourists from various countries, the PPA is looking at finishing the construction of cruise terminals in surfing hotspot Siargao, Coron in Palawan, Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur, Puerto Galera in Luzon, Boracay in the Visayas, and Camiguin in Mindanao.

For a country that bagged the title of “Asia’s Best Cruise Destination 2023” at the World Cruise Awards in Dubai in October 2023, the Philippines seems to lack modern ports built to international standards to accommodate the large ships and the thousands of international visitors.

Bureau of Immigration (BI) personnel are also needed to check on visas at entry points.

The Department of Tourism (DoT), despite being the government’s primary agency in charge of luring visitors to the country, seems to be lukewarm to cruise tourism. Pronouncements have been made of the DoT’s support for cruise tourism, but it seems the agency is only paying lip service as nothing substantial is being done to promote this.

One notable, disappointing and embarrassing experience cruise visitors encounter is that these large vessels take hours to disembark because ports use small boats to take thousands of passengers to shore. The private sector must chip in their contribution by investing in these areas with hotels and restaurants.

To solidify the country’s position as one of the top cruise destinations in the world, there must be a whole-of-nation approach. Local governments in charge of tourist destinations must offer comfortable and safe buses for visitors. They must hire local porters and tour guides to generate employment. Even the most basic of services such as medical facilities must be built.

And for Philippine cruise tourism to work, cruise tourists must have an exceptional guest experience from docking and upon leaving the country. And the DoT should be more, move more, and move better.

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