The tourism imperative

Time was when discussions on the economic performance of the country were held among a small group of people, often in the halls of research institutions, government agencies or the academe, and entered the business pages from time to time for the public to partake in.

- #MINDANAO JOHN TRIA

With social media enabling the sharing of such information, access to this information and that of our similarly situated ASEAN neighbors is also increasing.

Of late, it seems very popular to compare our country's tourism arrivals with some of our ASEAN neighbors. Whatever gaps between our performance and that of the others is fodder for discussion in the now ubiquitous and pervasive platform called social media.

Yet the plain truth about our tourism numbers is that the highest number of foreign tourists to ever arrive at our shores was 8.62 million individuals, achieved in the pre-pandemic year of 2019, a substantial 15.25 percent increase from 2018's 7.16 million arrivals. That such numbers have been achieved in the past ought to inspire hope among us that the same results can be met again and even surpassed. What needs to be done then?