President Duterte asks Japan businessmen to invest in tourism
Credit to Author: THE MANILA TIMES| Date: Sun, 02 Jun 2019 16:18:57 +0000
TOKYO, JAPAN: In a parallel event to the 14th Philippine Business Mission (PBM) for tourism held in Japan, President Rodrigo Duterte met with leaders of the Japanese travel industry and invited them to invest in the Philippines, stating that now is the best time. The tourism and travel sector stand to benefit from the Build, Build, Build program, which has a number of ongoing transportation infrastructure development projects to achieve seamless travel to and around the archipelago.
Organized by the Department of Tourism, the travel industry meeting with the President was a historic occasion, signaling the importance held by Japan as the country’s fourth biggest foreign tourist market.
The historic meeting coincides with the annual Philippine Business Mission organized by the Department of Tourism and the Tourism Promotions Board. This year, the three-city PBM, covering Sapporo, Nagoya and Tokyo from May 27-31 takes pride in having a 38-company strong Philippine delegation.
Department of Tourism (DoT) Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat earlier presented an economically viable tourism sector teeming with exciting investment opportunities in the areas of accommodation, transportation, leisure and recreation facilities, food and beverage and even infrastructure.
The Japanese Association of Travel Agents (JATA) President, Tadashi Shimura, mentioned that under the leadership of Secretary Puyat, there have been focused marketing initiatives in Japan for Philippine tourism. He noted that in 2018, the 8.15 percent growth rate of Japanese arrivals to the Philippines was higher than the total Japan outbound rate of 6 percent and thanked the Philippines for supporting efforts to grow the Japanese market further.
Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arturo Tugade enthused that the development of new airports and expansion of existing gateways serve to attract many investment and business opportunities for airline companies and airport operators in Japan.
International air seats to the Philippines from Japan now total 3,250,264 as of March 2019. The inbound traffic is expected to rise with Philippine Airlines’ introduction of Chitose-Manila thrice weekly flights last December, Japan Airlines’ daily service linking Haneda with Manila since February and the upcoming flights of Air Asia (Osaka-Manila, July 1), and Cebu Pacific (Narita-Clark, August 9).
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