The Department of Tourism (DOT) is focusing its efforts on wooing more tourists from South Korea, the United States, and Japan in an attempt to chase after its 7.7 million arrival target by the end of the year.

In an interview on the sidelines of the Philippine Hotel Industry Strategic Action Plan (PHISAP) in Mandaluyong on Wednesday, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco admitted that “external factors” and limitations in visa policies are affecting the country’s projected numbers for 2024.

“We do have challenges in terms of chasing after the projected number, especially in light of external factors that include geopolitical stresses upon these arrivals, over which we have little control now,” she said.

“Second is the limitations on our visa policies compared to our ASEAN neighbors, and that is why we continue to advocate for a liberalized visa system to be instituted by the Department of Foreign Affairs in partnership with a Bureau of Immigration,” she added.

Based on the latest DOT data, the Philippines has so far reached 4.43 million in international visitor arrivals as of September 2024, with South Korea as the top market contributing more than one million.

With a more stringent visa policy toward China, Frasco said the country cannot expect an influx of Chinese travelers returning anytime soon.

“The simple reality is that the issuance of visas to the Chinese market has been publicly declared to be more stringent. So with a more stringent visa policy towards Chinese travelers, I don’t think we can expect a flourishing market from that jurisdiction,” she said.

Before the pandemic, the Chinese market ranked second as a tourist market and brought in 1.35 million from January to September 2019.

In the same period this year, the number of Chinese visitors to the Philippines plummeted to 260,134.

“That is why the DOT, respectful of these realities on the ground, is actively pursuing number one our top source, markets including South Korea, the US, Japan, as well as markets for which we have massive opportunity, including India,” Frasco said.

Meanwhile, she said comparison of tourism arrivals must be put side by side with the country’s visitor receipts, which has already reached over 100 percent recovery from 2019.

“Visitor receipts, I think should be the number one number that is looked at as well as tourism employment,” she said.

“And so I’ve considered it (the 7.7 million) a moving target— And I am in no way losing my optimism because our effort is very, very aggressive,” she added. (PNA)