The Philippines is refocusing its tourism efforts in attracting more travelers from India, Europe and the sought-after luxury Middle East market as the country compensates with the low Chinese tourist arrivals last year.

Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco admitted that the small Chinese arrivals last year “devastated” tourism targets as only a little over 300,000 arrived — way beyond its two million target for the year.

“Visa liberalization is critical. And so, with the challenges that we are facing pertaining to the Chinese market, we are now looking at India,” she said at the Kapihan sa Manila Prince Hotel on Wednesday.

The department will double its efforts to tap into the growing Indian outbound market, five million of whom traveled to Southeast Asia in 2024 alone, she added.

Of this number, Frasco noted that only 79,000 went to the Philippines.

“(The number is) not very big and so we are aggressively advocating for liberalized policies in terms of visa issuance for the Indian market coming into the country,” the tourism chief said.

“So, we’re hopeful that with the President’s directive to expedite the improving efficiencies in the e-travel for India, we will be able to get a huge chunk of the Indian market,” she added.

The DOT, she said, will also continue its aggressive marketing in the Middle East, seeing increased market recovery in the region as well as Europe.

Frasco attributed this recovery to the “Love the Philippines” global campaign, which she said was sustained despite budget cuts in the past year.

“As far as the Middle East is concerned, we’re seeing very, very encouraging growth, with recovery rates averaging from around 500 percent,” she said.

“Qatar, for example, is now recovered at over 800 percent, so we’re also going to be quite aggressive in terms of marketing to that region, even as we continue our aggressive marketing strategies in Asia and the ASEAN,” she added.

To capture the European market, Frasco said the DOT would conduct a “focused marketing campaign” in France and neighboring countries to capitalize on the new Manila-Paris direct flights by Air France.

The country’s inbound visitors in 2024 reached 5.94 million, at least 9.15 percent higher than the 5.45 million foreign visitors recorded in 2023, but below the 7.7 million arrival target for the year.

Amid new measures to attract other markets, Frasco said the agency would continue to “advocate to recover the Chinese market as far as tourism is concerned” and ensure that the Philippines remains a top-of-mind destination to travelers.

Talks, she said, are continuous with the Department of Foreign Affairs and relevant agencies to relax the visa policies for the Chinese. (PNA)