THE Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)-Davao has already recorded over 42 million domestic travelers in the country, a sign of a developing tourism industry, a government statistician said.
Rosendo Aya-ay, PSA-Davao chief statistical operation and coordination division, underscored the importance of the tourism sector in contributing to the national progress of the Philippine economy.
Records from the Philippine Tourism Satellite Accounts (PTSA) show that for 2017, tourism industries contributed 12.2 percent to the total economy of the country.
PTSA also shows the inbound tourism expenditure grew by 43.9 percent in 2017, generating to an amount of P448.6 billion from P311.7 billion in 2016.
“As for the domestic tourism expenditure, it grew by 25.5 percent, from P2,108.2 billion in 2016 to P2,644.8 billion in 2017,” Aya-ay said.
The chief statistician added out of the 42 million domestic travelers from the 2016 Household Survey on Domestic Visitors, there is a 93 male tourist:100 female tourist ratio.
In terms of age, 28 percent of the recorded domestic tourist population accounts for travelers aging from 15 to 24 years old. About 70 percent of the recorded population graduated high school.
Aya-ay said that these data will help in informing future plans for the Department of Tourism (DOT).
DOT chief tourism officer Judy Colaljo said during the event that the statistics provided must be a platform in promoting a sustainable tourism industry in the development of the country.
“We must use statistics in the progress of our country and maintain the heritage in proving that is really more fun in the Philippines,” Colaljo said.