Filipinos working overseas are being encouraged to help boost the number of foreigners visiting the Philippines.
The “Bring Home a Friend” program offers more than ten million Filipinos working outside the Philippines the chance to win valuable prizes and is designed to help the government meet its ambitious target of 7.4 million visitor arrivals for 2018. In 2017 arrivals numbered 6.6 million. The prizes range from gift certificates worth almost US$4000 to a condominium worth over US$135,000. The Philippines lags behind its Southeast Asia neighbours in tourist arrivals, a situation which has been blamed on lack of promotion, poor infrastructure and safety concerns particularly in the south of the country. The most recent data available shows that in 2016 the Philippines had six million tourist arrivals compared with 26.8 million for Malaysia and 32.6 million for Thailand. This accounted for 8.6% of the Philippines’ GDP. Revenue from tourism in 2018 is projected to reach more than nine billion US dollars.
Photo by Justonewayticket