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Manila. The Philippines is aiming to double tourism revenue in six years while avoiding the mass-market route taken by some of its neighbors, the country’s new tourism minister says.

The archipelago of more than 7,000 islands boasts some of the world’s most beautiful white-sand beaches but annual tourist revenue is a paltry $2.25 billion, Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim said.

“We want double that, at least,” said Lim, a former high-end resort developer who was appointed to President Benigno Aquino’s cabinet on June 30.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand estimates that its country will earn 430 billion baht ($13 billion) from tourism in 2010.

But Lim said: “I’m not sure whether I would like to emulate the Thai model. I would like to go for quality tourism and just make up for the lack of numbers in revenue.

“Unbridled tourism is also bad because the environment suffers. So we are very careful about the type of tourism we want. The people who come for culture, history and nature, maybe we can receive them.”

While insisting that backpackers would still be welcome, Lim claimed that they did not spend a lot, adding that “they leave waste behind.”

The time frame for doubling revenue is the six-year term of Aquino’s presidency.

Just over three million tourists visited the country last year, down 3.9 percent from 2008 as tourism worldwide retreated amid the global financial crisis.

By contrast, tourist arrivals in Thailand, the industry leader in Southeast Asia, fell only 2.68 percent to 14.15 million last year, according to government data.

Lim said the Philippines tourism industry had terrific potential, despite large areas of the south remaining off-limits to foreigners because of Muslim insurgents’ penchant for kidnapping.

He insisted the Philippines had fine-white beach sand superior to anything that its neighbors could offer.

“The beaches in the Philippines are better than Indonesia or Thailand,” he said.

Lim’s first priority is to open up Philippine skies further.

He pointed out that there were three times as many flights between Japan and Thailand as between Japan and the Philippines.

“Access creates investments, investments create hotel facilities and that will also lower prices,” he said.

While government spending for the tourism sector rose during the past nine years of then President Gloria Arroyo’s administration, Lim said the money was not targeted well and often rewarded supporters of the government.

“A problem of the past administration was the president, to keep herself in power, had to spread the budget thinly over different areas,” he said, citing instances where airports were built where they were not needed.

Lim also said that the Philippines should maximize its potential in being an English-speaking nation.

He said the Philippines should be able to attract more so-called medical tourists who felt comfortable with English-speaking doctors and nurses.


Agence France-Presse