“Exploring Philippine Wonders in Numbers: Statistics Towards Sustainable Tourism Development”
The country underwent a lot of changes over the years especially with the way people live their lives. One of the industries which has been greatly affected by these changes is tourism which is an important sector in the Philippines. The Philippines is known for its tourist spots mainly for their rich flora, fauna and captivating beauty that has attracted many tourists in and out of the country.
The Philippine Tourism Satellite Accounts (PTSA) compiled by the Philippine Statistics Authority shows that the tourism industry contributed 12.2 percent to the Philippine economy in 2017 which is 3.6 percentage points higher than that of the previous year, and that there were 5.3 million people employed in this industry for the same year. The total tourist arrivals in 2017 was recorded at 6.62 million visitors which is 11.1 percent higher than the previous year’s record of 5.96 million visitors.
Since the industry contributes significantly to the economy, there is a great need for obtaining reliable statistics on tourism in order to come up with feasible and appropriate programs and policies that will further lead to its sustainable development. Moreover, these statistics will help policymakers address challenges in the sector which pose as hindrance to its development.
In line with this, the 29th National Statistics Month has for its theme - “Exploring Philippine Wonders in Numbers: Statistics Towards Sustainable Tourism Development.” The theme reflects the relevance of statistics in achieving a sustainable and progressive tourism growth for our country. The theme emphasizes the need for statistics to identify potential tourism havens and also areas which require interventions.
The Philippine Statistical Development Program (PSDP) 2018-2023 outlines statistical activities for the tourism sector such as the establishment of a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) mechanism to assess the statistical activities related to tourism statistics, timely release of data from LGUs for consistency of information for generation of the number of domestic visitors, and institutionalization of Household Survey on Domestic Visitors (HSDV) for reliable Philippine Tourism Satellite Accounts (PTSA), participation in the expert group on Measuring Sustainable Tourism (MST), the conduct of exploratory work on the compilation of data on tourism investment, workshop on the generation of Tourism I-O, among others. These activities support the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2017-2022, AmBisyon Natin 2040, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and are aimed at ensuring the steady generation of timely and relevant tourism-related data to boost the tourism sector and provide basis for programs that are geared towards the sustainability of Philippine tourism.
