AS the local tourism industry continues to grapple with global and local travel restrictions due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the Department of Tourism (DOT) has drawn up new strategies and tourism products to achieve its revised arrivals and income targets for 2021 and 2022.
Under its Reformulated National Tourism Development Plan (RNTDP) for 2021-2022, the DOT’s key strategic directions now include: “Ensuring responsive and timely policies in support of safe and fun tourism, Cultivating convergence to develop and promote sustainable domestic tourism; and Enhancing capacity among tourism workers to ensure employability and productivity.”
In an interview with the BusinessMirror, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat said, “While we continue to sustain our engagements in our key, strategic and opportunity markets, the Department is also preparing and recalibrating its tourism products, adapting them to new market preferences in the post-pandemic era, where more sustainable, greener, and immersive tourism experiences are expected to be in high demand.”
The DOT will also “develop and/or improve the tour quality and experience in the priority tourism circuits that match market preferences for safe travels in open spaces/outdoors, nature-based, curated, sensorial, and inclusive products.”
Aside from the usual outdoor activities now preferred by consumers, Romulo Puyat added, “We also see the potential in motorbiking and biking. This is the low-density, but high-value kind of tourism experience. This influenced the department’s thrust to further develop Adventure Tourism.”
She noted, the “Wellness Workation Program is also one of the strong areas that the industry can pivot to. The DOT is likewise reaching out to niche markets like divers, and foresees the interest of Balikbayans [homecoming Filipinos] to return to the country to visit friends and relatives.”
Another innovative marketing and promotions program under the RNTDP 2021-2022 is the “collaboration with the private sector and specific institutions in designing and promoting educational trips particularly for the schools and youth organizations hand in hand with collegial reunions and nostalgic holidays.”
The DOT also wants to speed up safe and green travel infrastructure and facilitation initiatives, such as “[improving] access and destination management infrastructure in the areas of sanitation, engineered landfill, health-care facilities and emergency response system, among others.” All these will be reflected as the agency prepares the annual tourism infrastructure program for 2022, and the next development plan for 2022-2028.
Among these green initiatives include “uniform safe travel protocols to facilitate domestic mobility and conduct rapid assessment on readiness for international initiatives.” These include online visa application, adoption of the International Air Transport Association’s Travel Pass, and an “immunity/green/safe passport.”
The agency will develop “Green Corridors” as a strategy to reopen borders utilizing more gateway airports like Clark, Cebu, Davao, Bohol, Puerto Princesa, among others, for direct flights.
Under the RNTDP 2021-2022, the DOT is targeting inbound arrivals to reach 5 million tourists by 2022, under a mild scenario, while domestic trips will be anywhere from 18.8 million (severe scenario) to 100 million (mild) in 2022. (See, “DOT forecasts 2 million to 5 million foreign tourists by 2022,” in the BusinessMirror, June 9, 2021.)