MANILA: The Philippines expects the deepening tourism cooperation with China will generate massive employment opportunities and investments in the tourism sector, its Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco said.
A government agreement to promote tourism cooperation between the neighbouring countries was signed in Beijing earlier this week during a three-day state visit to China by Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos.
The program commits the two countries to work together on “increasing tourist arrivals, resuming and adding direct flights to key and emerging destinations, joint promotional activities, and inviting tourism investments in infrastructure, among others,” Frasco said in a statement.
“We are grateful for China’s commitment and interest,” Frasco said. “We have ushered in this new era of tourism focused on building the industry into a stronger, more sustainable, and more resilient economic pillar.”
Local tour operators and travel agencies are also encouraged to participate in the program by jointly advertising both countries’ tourist offerings.
“We will encourage investments in tourism infrastructure and support tourism enterprises of both countries to cooperate in developing tourism projects,” Frasco said, adding her department will focus particularly on promoting eco-friendly products and services.
In 2019, the Philippines recorded 8.26 million international visitor arrivals, with China ranking the second largest tourist market with a total of 1.74 million arrivals.
Meanwhile the holiday buzz has driven the Philipines’ jobless rate to a 17-year low.
The Philippines’ unemployment rate fell to its lowest in more than 17 years in November as the nation continued to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic and business activity accelerated in the run-up to the holidays.
Jobless rate fell to 4.2pc in November, equivalent to 2.18 million people without work, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported Friday. That rate compares to 4.5pc in the previous month and is the lowest since April 2005 when the government adopted a new definition for unemployment, National Statistician Dennis Mapa said in a briefing. The Philippines is among Asia’s bright spots as the country recovered from the pandemic while rising interest rates and costs of living dimmed the global outlook. The Southeast Asian economy grew faster than expected from July to September, with output also seen to be “robust” last quarter.
Still, data showed an uptick in underemployment to 14.4pc from 14.2pc in October with the percentage of employees seeking additional work hours or a side job rising as more joined the labour force. Employed persons on average worked 39.3 hours a week in November, fewer than the 40.2 hours the previous month. The unemployment rate typically falls during the fourth quarter as the predominantly Catholic country enters a festive Christmas season.
“The strong labour market signifies the steady recovery of our economy,” Secretary Arsenio Balisacan of the National Economic and Development Authority said in a statement following the data release. The government plans to “reinvigorate job creation, particularly high-quality jobs,” he said.
