Frasco sees 34 million tourism workers by 2028

The tourism industry is seen to become lucrative for Filipinos, with Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco projecting that workers in the industry would balloon to 34 million.

This was aired by Frasco at the 10th edition of the Global Tourism Economy Forum or GETF in Macao Special Administrative Region on Friday.

"The Philippines envisions itself becoming the tourism powerhouse in Asia. A few years down the road, by 2028, we foresee that tourism would have been able to employ a total of over 34 million Filipinos in the country," said the DoT chief, pertaining to data on tourism employment from 2023 to 2028 from the Department of Labor and Employment-National Labor and Employment Plan of 2028.

Whole-of-nation approach

She also noted the importance of the Philippines' whole-of-nation approach toward tourism development by also capitalizing on other aspects of tourism equally.

"With our President's whole-of-nation approach towards tourism development, with an eye for sustainability, we envision that this will allow the Philippines to occupy a primary position in Asia, especially considering that what we wish to do is not only to further develop our nature and beach destinations — we are, after all, currently the world's leading beach and dive destination — but also to approach a multidimensional tourism component to our development," she said.

"That means capitalizing well on the story of the Philippines, our heritage, our culture, and the work of our indigenous peoples and, overall, it is this comprehensive approach towards tourism development that we foresee would allow our country to have a sustainable tourism development in time to come," stressed Frasco.

Sustainability efforts

Also during the forum, Frasco shared the Philippine government's sustainability efforts for tourism and, at the same time, her bold prospects for the industry.

"The Philippines is home to one of the longest coastlines in the world, as well as 70 to 80 percent of the Earth's biodiversity. We are one of the most mega-biodiverse countries in the world and home to 10 percent of the world's marine protected area," she said.

"Sustainability and tourism have been an absolute necessity and the driving force of development for our country. As early as 2009 with the passage of the law that created the Tourism Act, sustainable tourism was identified by our government as being integral to our socio-economic development, and therefore, that has been the guiding force towards the programs and plans for the development of our tourism industry," the tourism chief added.

Sustainability standpoint

With the approved National Tourism Development Plan 2023-2028, she said that the approach for the country's tourism blueprint was crafted from a sustainability standpoint incorporated under a seven-point agenda by which the DOT is currently operating at present.