UN tourism org tells world to experience Philippines

 News
Jun 252017
 

United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Secretary-General Taleb Rifai has hailed the experience of visiting the Philippines and said the world’s people must come visit because “You haven’t lived if you have not experienced the Philippines.”

Dinagyang Festival

Dinagyang Festival [via Iloilo Today]

The Department of Tourism posted how the UNWTO chief praised the Philippines and the Filipinos for managing to survive difficulties and still come out with their best saying, “The world is lucky to have the Philippines. Culture, nature, upbeat people give the country so much life. The Philippines is a country to travel and respect, and its greatest gift is its people.”

Rifai told delegates of the 6th UNWTO International Conference on Tourism Statistics, “We are here, ladies and gentlemen, to tell the world to come to the Philippines and make no mistake about it. Anybody who tries to present any other version of the story should come and see with your own eyes.”

“All of the countries of the world that have experienced difficulties have come back and have shown their best and their beauty comes out,” the UN organization head said during the WTO meeting hosted by Manila – the country’s second time to host WTO after 1980.

UNWTO described the Manila Conference as “a landmark opportunity to discuss methodological advances, explore emerging issues and learn from pioneering country experiences in this area of measurement.”

The 3-day conference gathered Tourism Ministers from Thailand, Seychelles, Fiji, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and 721 international and local delegates to develop a statistical framework to integrate sustainable tourism on a global level.

 

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Tourist influx grows 11% in H1

 Economy
Jul 312013
 
Tourist influx grows 11% in H1

MANILA, Philippines – The influx of international tourists continues to improve growing 11 percent in the first half of 2013 to 2.4 million, Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. told The STAR. The arrival figure, he said, makes up 45 percent of the projected 5.5-million arrivals for the year. He said the sustained growth in foreign tourist arrivals signals the country’s robust efforts to improve its tourism industry. Jimenez said while data from United Nations World Travel Organization (UNWTO) showed the Philippines lagging behind its neighboring countries in attracting foreign tourists, this may not reflect the actual picture. “The Philippines is not part of a contiguous land mass unlike our neighbors. We are in the middle of the ocean,” he said. “What the UNWTO data may have counted are the number of tourists visiting each country in Southeast Asia, even those crossing borders and/or making frequent visits by land. For example, citizens of Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore..crossing borders every day and being counted as tourists. We have no way of doing that here,” he pointed out. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “What we only have are air arrivals data which the UN data does not show. About 98 percent of our visitors arrive here by plane. Even the tourists from our neighbors would have to travel by plane just to visit here. Just imagine, a Malaysian tourist could visit Thailand and Singapore by land. The same with Vietnam, where its citizens can just cross borders from Laos Read More …