Philippine Tourism Must Invest in Infrastructure

[philippines]

By Katlene O. Cacho

TRYING to double tourism revenues while avoiding the mass-market route may be a good plan but the government should heavily invest on infrastructure and have a clear tourism brand, industry players in Cebu said.

“It is a good plan but it will take a lot of infrastructure and development of world-class tourism facilities,” said Cebu Business Club president Dondi Joseph.

“I have personally always been for the high-spend tourism market but we must also be realistic and mine the mass-market opportunities while we shift to the higher end of market,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.

Six years, he added, may not be enough time for a complete transition.

Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim earlier said the department is aiming to double tourism revenues while avoiding the mass-market route taken by some of the country’s Southeast Asian neighbors.