Travel and tourism contributed US$82 billion to Philippine economy and was the country’s largest sector in 2018, having a 24.7-percent share in the nation’s Gross Domestic Product , according to a study by a global body that represents the private sector of travel and tourism.“Travel and tourism’s contribution to employment during 2018 was 26.4 percent, ahead of both Retail and Construction, at 20.4 percent and 15.
Tourism chief Bernadette Romulo-Puyat attributed the continuous upsurge to the sustained support from industry stakeholders, government, host communities, investors, and foreign travel trade counterparts. Romulo-Puyat asked the public to further support the government’s sustainable tourism efforts, not only in key destinations but in all areas to continually drive inbound traffic and spread the benefits of tourism to the countryside.According to the latest DOT data, South Korea remains the top tourist market with 1,113,274 arrivals followed by China with 1,038,409.
According to WTTC, the sector accounts for 10.4 percent or around USD8.8 trillion of the total global GDP in 2018. WTTC attributed to the continuous rise in the number of middle-class households, solid growth in global consumer spending, low unemployment rates, continuous rebound from security threats, currency depreciation and visa relaxation in several countries around the world the strong growth in travel and tourism.