Tourism Dept leaves HK tourists out of numbers goal

The Department of Tourism is leaving Hong Kong tourists in peace for now, focusing on other countries instead to achieve its goal of attracting 3.3 million tourists into the country and $2.5 billion in tourism receipts. Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim told the House appropriations committee Tuesday the department can't force the Hong Kong market to bounce back right away after the Aug. 23 hostage tragedy that left eight Hong Kongers and seven others wounded. “We are focusing heavily on other markets to replace what we lose in the Hong Kong-China market," Lim told the House appropriations committee during Tuesday’s discussions on the P1.303 billion the department wants for 2011. Once the "wounds" over the hostage incident have healed, tourism officials will again woo the Hong Kong and Chinese tourists back to the Philippines, Lim said. Those wounds are "something that must be healed naturally." There are indications that the wounds are already healing and “we are ready to start working quietly," he added. “We are hoping to get 3.3 million foreign visitors by year-end and $2.5 billion in receipts and additional job generation of 377,000 people employed this year," Lim said. 'Notwithstanding the incident' The department wants to achieve a 10 percent increase in arrivals over 2009, “notwithstanding the incident that happened in Luneta on Aug. 23," he said. According to him, the DOT expects to double tourist arrivals in the country to 6 million by in 2016 – the end of President Aquino’s term. Tourists from Hong Kong and China account for 9 to 10 percent of arrivals in the Philippines, Lim earlier said. In his budget presentation Tuesday, Lim said the department plans to spend P87 million in promoting Philippine tourist destinations to Asia Pacific markets including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Australia. The department will also spend P86 million in promotion money to get American and Canadian tourists, as well as P64 million for Korea, P43 million for Japan, P38 million for Europe, P23 million for China, P15 million for the Middle East, P12 million for India, and P8.1 million for other countries. The Philippines at present ranks sixth in terms of visitor arrivals, following Malaysia (No. 1), Thailand (No. 2), Singapore (No.3), Indonesia (No. 4), and Vietnam (No. 5). Lim told the committee that the country has limited access and interconnections to other countries and lacks world-class infrastructure and tourism facilities. The Philippine’s unfriendly business environment and inconsistent regulations were also cited as reasons why the Philippines is not attracting more tourists, he added. —VS, GMANews.TV