The Department of Tourism (DOT) on Wednesday urged Singaporean businessmen to visit and invest in the Philippines as it shares the country’s initiatives to fast-track the tourism industry’s recovery.

“The tourism industry of the Philippines is already on its way to recovery, with your help and with your partnership we can continue to allow tourism to be a force for good towards the economic recovery of the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region,” Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said during the Philippine Economic Briefing (PEB) in Singapore.

Frasco said the DOT is “doing everything” to revitalize the sector and make it a major economic pillar for the country’s post-pandemic recovery.

“We’re open, we’re ready, and we invite all of you to visit and to invest in the Philippines,” she told the businessmen at the briefing.

Among the initiatives she laid out were infrastructure development, digitalization and connectivity, diversification of the Philippine tourism portfolio, and the strengthening of tourism governance.

She said the DOT will work with relevant agencies to improve access to key destinations through improved roads, bridges, and water systems.

She announced that DOT is also breaking ground this year 10 tourist rest areas across the country.

“Overall, the outlook about the Philippines is optimistic, notwithstanding all of the difficulties that we have faced and have come into our shores and everything that has come to pass everything that the Filipino people have suffered in terms of various upheavals and calamities,” she said.

“It is by no accident that our country remains one of the most beautiful destinations in the world and top-of-mind destinations in terms of tourism,” she added.

As of Sept. 5, the Philippines has received at least 1.4 million international visitors.

The PEB in Singapore was conducted in cooperation with the Philippine Embassy Singapore and the Philippine Trade and Investment Centre Singapore, together with partner banks – BoFa Securities, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, SMBC Nikko, Standard Chartered Bank, and UBS. (PNA)