The Philippines is eyeing a tourism partnership with Austria to further increase the number of Austrian travelers to the country, the Department of Tourism (DOT) said Tuesday.

Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said Manila wanted to sign a Memorandum of Tourism Cooperation with Austria that would focus on facilitating enhanced connectivity and exchange of best practices in culture, heritage, and retirement tourism.

The proposed agreement also seeks to serve as a platform for possible sustainable tourism frameworks and upskilling programs in hospitality.

During a meeting with State Secretary Susanne Kraus-Winkler in Austria on March 7, Frasco cited the 89 percent recovery rate of visitor arrivals from Austria to the Philippines in 2023 at 13,180, vis-à-vis the 14,840 arrivals recorded in pre-pandemic 2019.

“We acknowledge the opportunity to strengthen the market; we also wish to maximize the opportunity to educate and inform Austrians about our tourism products in the Philippines which are of great interest to Europeans including our beaches, dive sites, adventure offerings, and experiential travel across our islands and among our diverse communities,” Frasco said.

In the meeting, Frasco shared the DOT’s program to train Filipino tourism workers in the Filipino Brand of Service Excellence with over 126,000 trained in 2023 alone; as well as the country’s English as a Second Language (ESL) program, with the Philippines ranking among the top five providers of this tourism product worldwide.

Kraus-Winkler broached the conclusion of a “working holiday program” provided for in the Philippine-Austria Memorandum of Understanding signed in Manila in October 2023.

“We want to further expand the good cooperation between Austria and the Philippines in the field of tourism and promote the mobility of young people. We are looking forward to the talks on the rapid implementation of a working holiday program, as we were recently able to conclude with the USA,” she said.

Working holiday programs combine vacations with practical work experience abroad to allow young people to finance part of their stay abroad.

Through this program, they can enter into temporary employment arrangements in the destination country and also make use of educational institutions.

The “workcation” program targets people from 18 to 30 years old who want to broaden their understanding of other countries and cultures. (PNA)