GRADUAL RETURN Restaurants and other shops in Boracay have reopened as tourists from Metro Manila and provinces in Western Visayas region start to return to the resort island in Malay, Aklan. —JACK JARILLA
MANILA, Philippines — Tourism’s contribution to the country’s economy dropped by 61.2 percent last year, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported.
In its annual report released on Wednesday, the PSA said the contribution of tourism to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country declined from 12.8 percent in 2019, down to 5.4 percent in 2020.
The PSA said the Tourism Direct Gross Value Added (TDGVA) dropped to P973.31 billion last year compared to P2.51 trillion in 2019, which is a 61.2 percent decrease.
Employment in the tourism sector also showed an 18.1 percent drop with 4.68 million employees in 2020 compared to 5.72 million in 2019.
The Department of Tourism (DOT) on Thursday said the recent figures have reflected the “gargantuan challenge” the country’s tourism industry is now facing amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“For an industry highly dependent on the mobility and face-to-face interaction of people, the severe damage of the global pandemic crisis is both unprecedented and unavoidable,” the DOT said in a statement.
“This compels the DOT to explore all means possible, within the imposed government restrictions, to facilitate the gradual recovery of the tourism industry,” the DOT added.
In a bid to jumpstart the “slow but sure” recovery of local tourism, the DOT is pushing for the relaxation of terms for tourism-related business loans, the relaxation of travel restrictions for NCR Plus residents who will be visiting modified general community quarantine areas, and the vaccination of tourism workers.
Despite the bleak figures, the DOT is optimistic that the tourism industry will bounce back.
“The DOT is optimistic that this transient situation will soon be over and that with the collective effort of the private and public sectors, the Philippine tourism industry will emerge bigger, better, and more resilient in the New Normal,” the DOT said.