The Philippines ranked third among countries in Asia with the highest drop in visitor arrivals last year, based on a report on global tourism released by the United Nation Conference on Trade and Development.
It showed an 84-percent drop in tourist arrivals in the Philippines, after Mongolia at -89 percent and China at -88 percent. Nepal with -81 percent and Malaysia with -79 percent rounded up the top 5 countries in Asia with the steepest decline in tourism arrivals.
The report said the most affected regions globally were Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania, North Africa and South Asia. Least affected were North America, Western Europe and the Caribbean.
This showed the greatest impact was felt on developing countries, according to the report. The reduction in tourist arrivals across developing nations was relatively consistent, mostly between 60 percent and 80 percent, the report said.
Nearly all countries implemented travel restrictions of one sort or another, such as travel bans, visa controls and quarantines, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
International tourism came to a halt in April and May 2020. Global inbound tourist arrivals declined 74 percent between January and December 2020, representing a decrease of 1 billion trips. If the pre-COVID months of January and February 2020 were excluded, the fall in arrivals would reach 84 percent, the report said.
Tourism is an important source of income for many developing countries, accounting for 50 percent of total exports for many small economies, particularly Small Islands Developing States such as Maldives and Saint Lucia. Tourism has relatively low barriers to entry and employs a high share of young people and women.
UNWTO estimated that 100 to 120 million direct tourism jobs were at stake.
It said that in the Philippines, practically 80 percent to 90 percent of the local labor force in the tourism sector was adversely affected at the height of the pandemic in March to May 2020. Tourism workers were either laid off or placed on long-term furlough.
The World Travel & Tourism Council’s annual economic impact report showed that number of people employed in the Philippine tourism sector fell from more than 9.5 million in 2019, to less than 7.6 million in 2020, representing a 21-percent drop.
The report revealed that travel and tourism’s impact on the GDP fell from $90 billion in 2019 to $52.8 billion in 2020. The travel and tourism sector also lost $37 billion due to the impact of COVID-19 on the industry or a drop of 41.4 percent from its annual contribution to the GDP.
It also revealed that domestic visitor spending declined by 35.5 percent, while international spending fell 78.8 percent.
The Department of Tourism said recovery efforts were underway to help tourism workers and stakeholders reopen the sector.