Tourism a ‘driver’ to economy transformation – Marcos

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the Philippine Tourism Industry Convergence Reception on Monday, Oct. 18, 2022. (Photo from an RTVM video)

MANILA, Philippines — The tourism industry is among the Philippines’ high potential drivers for economic transformation, with Filipinos as its greatest asset, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said on Monday.

He made the remark in his speech at the Philippine Tourism Industry Convergence Reception in Pasay City.

He said the government should do everything to ensure that the tourism industry, which he called an asset, would create jobs and attract visitors to the country.

“It became very clear that, as we transform our economy, one of the possible and high potential drivers for the transformation for the economy was tourism and the reason is we in the Philippines have been so fortunate to have been born to this very beautiful country,” he said in his speech.

“Even more so, we have been so lucky to be born to such beautiful people. That’s why I said this is something we can show to the world and this will help all the preoccupation because we always talk about jobs and employment,” Marcos added.

He vowed that his administration would remain committed to making sure that the inputs in the tourism industry’s listening tours would be optimized.

He said resort areas would be developed and tourists from all over the world would be welcomed.

The president also emphasized the importance of improving accessibility to tourist ports, particularly airports.

“We must improve the accessibility of all these places, to have direct access to smaller airports, not necessarily big airports of Manila, of Cebu, of Gen San, but also to the small areas,” Marcos said.

Marcos also touted how Filipinos are the country’s greatest assets in tourism, referring to them as “young and well-trained workforce” who are by nature very friendly.

“There is no warmer, more poignant sight than the smile of a Filipino, and that is something that we can introduce to the world,” he said.

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