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Statistically Speaking
Tourism as an Engine for Employment Creation 
by Dr. Romulo A. Virola 1
Secretary General, NSCB
Our Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park currently ranks first2 in the ongoing competition in Group E (forests, national parks, nature reserves) for the “New7Wonders of Nature”. If you haven’t experienced the exhilarating boat ride along the longest underground river in the world, in full view of awesome stalactite and stalagmite formations, you had better think at least a hundred times before your next travel abroad. I have seen many places around the world but Puerto Princesa and the beautiful Batanes are definitely among the best. So please don’t forget to vote!
Aside from Batanes and Puerto Princesa, there are of course many other tourist destination areas in our country. The pristine beaches of Boracay, the grandeur of the Banaue rice terraces, the gentle butandings in Donsol, the majestic Mayon volcano, snorkeling in Coron, diving in Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea and Apo Reef in Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro, and Malapascua Islands in Cebu, the chocolate hills and tarsier of Bohol, to name some, should be experienced by all of us before we even think of going anywhere outside our wonderful country.
Domestic tourism holds much promise in stimulating economic activities especially under the current global financial crisis which has adversely affected international tourism. Actually, many of our tourist destination places are visited primarily by domestic tourists. So, as Philippine Star Bizlinks columnist Rey Gamboa says, we should be “selling the Philippines to Filipinos”. Despite the crisis, therefore, we need to appeal to our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and balikbayans to help our economy by spending their dollars visiting and enjoying with their families ( kalimutan na dapat ang mga kabit!) the many places our more than 7,000 islands can offer.
In fact, tourism has been recognized, and not just by the travel agents mind you, as an engine to steer national development, towards poverty reduction. True, tourism comes with sometimes heavy social costs and environmental damages. While many tourists visit us to enjoy our mountains and beaches, our diverse culture and our health services, some surely have other mundane motives, including abusing, exploiting and expropriating our environmental resources. In some places, the influx of tourists has given rise to presyong pang turista which of course raises the cost of living for local residents. Worse, it can produce undesirable social transformation that undermines the moral fiber of our society. In addition, in some places, local establishments have been put up that uglify our beach fronts. But it cannot be denied that health and wellness tourism, ecotourism, cultural tourism, English language tourism, etc. when properly managed, can contribute significantly in boosting the nation’s GDP and have a positive net impact on Philippine society.
During the G20 Summit in London two weeks ago, the UN World Tourism Organization (WTO) issued a message3 on the “potential for tourism and travel to support short term stimulus actions as well as longer term transformation to a green economy, coherent with development and climate imperatives”. The WTO asserts that “tourism is a primary vehicle for job creation and economic regeneration” and that it “currently drives 6% of jobs in G20 economies with a strong multiplier effect on related services, manufacturing and agriculture..”
At about the same time as the G20 Summit, the 5th UN WTO International Conference on Tourism Statistics4 was held in Bali, Indonesia with the theme “Tourism: An Engine for Employment Creation”, followed by a meeting of the UN WTO Committee on Statistics. It was participated by more than 300 participants from more than 60 countries. The conference5 recognized that tourism had continued to be a dynamic sector of economic activities in modern times, generating a wide range of benefits for host destinations such as employment generation, foreign exchange earnings and overall contribution to GDP. It thus encouraged governments and international financial institutions to use tourism to mitigate the effects of the current global crisis, especially by offering fresh job opportunities, taking into account the Decent Work agenda of the ILO and the need for the tourism industry to give priority attention to human resource development. It also emphasized that the measurement of tourism’s contribution had been made possible thru a National System of Tourism Statistics and the Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA)6 and addressed the challenges encountered by countries in the compilation of the TSA. Finally, it recommended that international and regional organizations strengthened the cooperation to promote the TSA and called upon governments and national tourism authorities to allocate sufficient budget for tourism statistics and the TSA. I wish the DBM would listen.
How does tourism support development?
Under the Philippine Tourism Satellite Accounts (PTSA) developed by the NSCB and DOT7, the tourism industry covers accommodation services, food and beverage serving services, transportation, travel agencies and other reservation services, entertainment and recreation, shopping and miscellaneous services like medical tourism. Tourism, thus cuts across many industries and has multiplier effects felt by many sectors of the economy. Currently, the PTSA produces eight8 of the ten tables recommended by the UN WTO framework9.
Recognizing the employment generating potential of tourism, DOT Secretary Joseph Ace Durano opened last March the fourth annual Trabaho sa Tourism Fair at the SM City in Cebu. According to Sec. Durano, those who lost their jobs in other sectors could take advantage of the emerging opportunities in the tourism industry, but “first, they have to acquire the necessary skills”.
The PTSA definitely has its limitations, mainly resulting from the unavailability of data support caused by limited manpower and financial resources given to tourism statistics. But the potential it offers to inform tourism development planning is enormous. If we focus on domestic tourism, a subnational TSA is essential, an agenda pushed by DOT Secretary Joseph Ace Durano during the UN WTO Workshop on Tourism Statistics and Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA)10 in Mactan Shangri-la Hotel, Cebu last 21-22 October 2008. Unfortunately, the extremely limited manpower resources of the NSCB have not allowed us to address critical data demands such as the subnational TSA. And while we started our national TSA way ahead of Indonesia, they have beaten us to the draw with their Bali TSA.
Our presentation in Bali cited the following statistics:
For the years 2000 to 2007, the average share of Tourism Direct Gross Value Added (TDGVA) to GDP is about 6.2% (Figure 1)
In the last few years, Internal Tourism Expenditure generally grew faster than GDP. (Figure 2)
Employment in the tourism sector represents about 9.5% of overall employment. (Table 1)
4.1 During the second half of 2008, the growth of tourism related services sectors was slower than that of 
GDP, failing to continue the momentum that started in Q3 2006. (Figure 3)
4.2 Employment in tourism industries decelerated to 1.5 % in 2008 (from 3.7 % in 2007), slower than the 2.6 % growth of the total Philippine employment. (Figure 4)
4.3 The growth of GVA for hotels/restaurants and recreational services slowed down to 0.78% in Q3 2008 and 4.01% in Q4 2008. (Table 2)
4.4 Employment in hotels and restaurants slowed down to 2.6% and 1.7% in Q4 2008 and Q1 2009, respectively, after having grown by 7.2% in Q2 2008 and 7.7% in Q3 2008. (Table 2)
5.1 Graduates of tourism courses represent less than 1% of total graduates but increased in 2006 and 2007 after 3 years of decline when nursing offered unbeatable competition. (Table 3)
5.2 Enrolment in tourism courses represents less than 1% of total enrolment but significant improvements were observed in the last three years. (Table 4)
5.3 And the number of schools with enrolment in tourism courses has been increasing. (Table 5)
6.1 Unlike in other countries, women in the Philippines are better educated than men. (Table 6)
6.2 Again, unlike in other countries (such as Indonesia and Maldives), women dominate the tourism-related industries in the Philippines. Women certainly face some risks when they work in the sector but women also have advantages over men in the service industry.
(Table 7)
At the subnational level, let us look at some statistics for Boracay and Baguio.
In both Boracay and Baguio, visitors are mainly domestic tourists. More than 9 out of 10 visitors in Baguio, and more than 6 out of 10 in Boracay, are domestic travellers. (Table 8)
Balikbayans are not contributing much to Philippine tourism, comprising less than 1 out of 10 tourists. They probably do not have the time to visit places and prefer to spend their limited vacation time with their families. What a pity that they have been to many places abroad but they have not been able to enjoy our white sand beaches and exotic marine resources. Is it the cost of local travel perhaps? Or maybe the DOT and the tourism industry 
need to come up with a promo for our balikbayans? Let us hope the promo air fares of Cebu Pacific can be managed even better to benefit them too!
Despite the reduction among foreign visitors in 2008, visitors to Boracay continue to increase. It is nice to note that more and more of our kababayans are being attracted to the incomparable beaches of Boracay. But it is surely the foreign tourists’ loss if they do not get to sunbathe nor swim in Boracay. Having said that, it behooves our Boracay LGU executives to package Boracay better. Bali is nice but a properly managed Boracay could be infinitely better. (Table 9)
After suffering visitor declines during the 2003-2005 difficult period in Baguio when the meningococcemia cases scared visitors, lovers of the Baguio weather are trekking once again to the summer capital, although the numbers seen during 2000-2002 still have not been recovered. Baguio probably has to rediscover ways to entertain visitors and it had better do it fast because according to a study conducted by a group of UP professors, tourism was the most stable industry in the city over the past 20 years!11 (Table 9)
Among foreign visitors12, Boracay is visited mainly by the Koreans, the Chinese, and the Americans. From our ASEAN neighbors, visitors to Boracay come mainly from Singapore. From Europe, Boracay tourists come mainly from the UK and Germany. In the case of Baguio, its visitors are mainly the Koreans, the Americans, the Japanese, and the Chinese. The Singaporeans and the visitors from Germany and the UK also top the visitors to Baguio from the ASEAN and Europe, respectively. This profile should certainly guide our tourism development strategies! (Table 10)
And if you thought Baguio13 was busiest in the summer months, you are wrong! According to information gathered from the DOT office in CAR on the average monthly occupancy rate of accommodation facilities in Baguio, the peak month is actually in December and lean months are January and August. The Panagbenga flower festival in February obviously attracts visitors, but again, improved packaging can probably attract much more! (Figure 5)
And the best of all, if you are from Manila, for three days and two nights, it is definitely cheaper to enjoy the fresh air of Baguio (P6,400- P10,900) or the white sands of Boracay (P12,300-P17,000) than be hassled by the traffic in Bangkok (P20,000-P29,000) or run the risk of being stampeded by the rush of shoppers in Hong Kong (P26,000-P35,000). (Table 11)
These statistics highlight the importance of good information in decision-making. Once again therefore, I call on the DBM and Congress to recognize the need to invest in statistics and to give more resources to statistical activities not only of the major statistical agencies like the NSCB, the NSO, SRTC, BAS, and BLES, but also of the line agencies like the DOT and of the LGUs. At the same time it is incumbent upon the statisticians specially those in the LGUs to collect, process, analyze and communicate/disseminate statistics that are relevant to society.
But of course, good statistics must be used to inform business decisions. I still do not understand why we are not able to offer the low hotel rates offered by other countries. And it took Cebu Pacific to discover the wisdom of the promo air fares! I hope our businessmen and women believe beyond the science of Madame Auring and Feng Shui!
Meanwhile, let us help recover from the global crisis. Enjoy the rest of the summer! Go visit our beautiful beaches and explore our exotic marine resources! Happy Easter to all!
Reactions and views are welcome thru email to the author at ra.virola@nscb.gov.ph.
_________________________
1 Secretary General of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) and Chairman of the Statistical Research and Training Center (SRTC). He holds a Ph. D. in Statistics from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, U.S.A. and has taught mathematics and statistics at the University of the Philippines. He is also a past president of the Philippine Statistical Association. This article is co-written by Florande S. Polistico, Statistical Coordination Officer of the Economic Indicators and Satellite Accounts Division of the NSCB. The authors thank Rolando Canizal, Milagros Y. Say, Benjamin Navarro, Nelida Losare, Noel S. Nepomuceno, Cynthia S. Regalado, Candido J. Astrologo, Jr., Jessamyn O. Encarnacion and Simonette A. Nisperos for the assistance in the preparation of the article. The views expressed in the article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the NSCB.
2 As of April 6, 2009 http://www.new7wonders.com/nature/en/liveranking/
3 UNWTO, “Tourism and the G20 Summit, A Message from UNWTO”.
4 The author participated with the support of the UN WTO and the Department of Tourism, together with Usec. Phineas Alburo and Milagros Say of DOT. He was a panellist in Session IV: Labour policies concerning the hospitality industry and presented a paper jointly prepared by the DOT and the NSCB. He also chaired Session VI: Using the TSA Data for Business and Policy Analysis. Usec Alburo was a panellist during the Ministerial Session II:Employment in the Tourism Industries: Policy Issues.
5 Draft “Bali Statement On Tourism Statistics And Employment”.
6 The International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics 2008 (IRTS 2008) was approved by the UN Statistical Commission during its 39th Session in February 2008. The Philippines thru the Department of Tourism and the NSCB participated actively in the formulation of the recommendations.
7 The NSCB created the Interagency Committee on Tourism Statistics to improve tourism statistics and the Philippine TSA. It is chaired by the NSCB and co-chaired by the DOT. Members include the NSO, UP-AIT, BSP, BLGS-DILG, NEDA, Bureau of Immigration, Civil Aeronautics Board, SRTC, Hotel and Restaurants Association of the Philippines, Board of Airline Representatives, Philippine Tour Operators Association and Philippine Travel Agencies Association. In addition, the NSCB has its PTSA Team led by Regina S. Reyes/Josephine Penaflor- Ferre/Florande S. Polistico.
8These tables are: 1) Inbound tourism expenditure by products; 2) Domestic tourism expenditure by products; 3) Outbound tourism expenditure by products; 4) Internal Tourism Consumption by products; 5) Production accounts on tourism industries and other industries; 6) Total domestic supply and internal tourism consumption; 7) Tourism employment by industry; and 8) Non monetary indicators. The two tables that are not yet compiled are: Gross Fixed Capital Formation of Tourism Industries and Other Industries and Tourism Collective Consumption by products.
9 “Tourism Satellite Account: Recommended Methodological Framework 2008”
10 During the workshop, The author presented a paper entitled “Developing the Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA): The Philippine Experience, by Romulo A. Virola, Regina S. Reyes, Florande S. Polistico, Rolando Canizal & Milagros Y. Say.
11 “Tourism comes to save the day”, article by Vincent Cabrera in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, March 13, 2009.
12See also Statistically Speaking, 11 September 2006 “Looking Forward to a Greater Contribution of Tourism to the Philippine Economy” written by Florande S. Polistico, http://www.nscb.gov.ph/headlines/StatsSpeak/091106_rav_fsp_tourism.asp
13Unfortunately and strangely, we do not have corresponding data for Boracay.
Posted 13 April 2009.
Figure 1. Share of TDGVA to total GDP,
2000-2007
Source: NSCB
Figure 2. Comparison of Annual GDP (at current prices)
with Internal Tourism Expenditure,
2000-2007
Source: NSCB
Table 1.Total Employment in the Philippines and Employment in Tourism Industries,
2000-2008
(in '000 persons)
Source: NSO, NSCB
Figure 3. Comparison of Quarterly GDP with GVA of Tourism related sectors
Q1 2006 to Q4 2008, At constant prices
Source: NSCB
Figure 4. Comparison of Tourism Industries' Employment with Total Employment
2000-2008
Table 2. Gross Value Added (GVA) and Employment of Hotel
and Restaurant Services,
Q2 2007- Q1 2009
Source: * NSCB
** Labor Force Survey (LFS), NSO
Table 3. Number of Graduates for Programs on Tourism, Tourism
and Travel Management and Hotel and Restaurant Management
in comparison
to total number of graduates in all courses
Source: Commission on Higher Education (CHED)
Table 4. Enrollment for Programs on Tourism, Tourism and Travel Managment
and Hotel and Restaurant Management in comparison to total number
of enrollment
in all courses
Source: Commission on Higher Education (CHED)
Table 5. Number of Schools with Enrolees and Graduates for Programs on Tourism,
Tourism and Travel Management and Hotel and Restaurant Management
Source: Commission on Higher Education (CHED)
Table 6. Updates of Women and Men: Education
Source: Updates on Women and Men, NSCB
Table 7. Enrollment (2007/08) and Graduates (2006/07)
by Program by Sex
Source: Commission on Higher Education (CHED)
Table 8. Volume and Percent Distribution of Visitors by Type,
Baguio and Boracay: 2000-2008
Source: DOT CAR and Region VI Regional Offices
Table 9. Precent Growth of Visitors by Type,
Baguio and Boracay: 2000-2008
Source: DOT CAR and Region VI Regional Offices
Table 10a. Percent Distribution of Foreign Visitors Visited Boracay
by Country of Origin:2000-2008
Source: DOT Region VI Regional Offices
Table 10b. Percent Distribution of Visitors Visited Baguio
by Country of Origin: 2000-2008
Source: DOT CAR Regional Office
Note: No available breakdown by country for 2000 and 2008
Figure 5. Average Monthly Occupancy Rate, Baguio City: 2002-2007
Source: DOT CAR Regional Office
Table 11. Comparison of the Average Cost of Travel to Boracay, Baguio,
Hongkong and Bangkok
The figures were computed as the average of the available rates - both for low and high rates.
Computation was based on the package rates which include round trip airfare with Manila as the point of origin, 3 days and 2 nights hotel accomodation, breakfast meal, tour and travel tax (for Hongkong and Bangkok).
Package rates for Hongkong and Bangkok were taken from the tour packages offered by the Philippine Airlines (PAL)
http://www.philippineairlines.com/tour_packages/mnlhkg_tour_result.jsp?to=HKG
http://www.philippineairlines.com/tour_packages/mnlbkk_tour_result.jsp?to=BKK
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