Palace downplays WEF report ranking PH as 11th most dangerous place for tourists

June 15, 2017

Malacanang downplayed on Thursday a World Economic Forum report ranking the Philippines as the 11th most dangerous place for tourists. Safety and security where the Philippines ranked 126th out of 136 countries is one of the 14 pillars under the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017 of WEF. In a press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said despite the WEF report, foreign tourist arrivals continue to increase. "Well, you know, contrary to the WEF report, tourism businesses are exposed to security risks...there are just hiccups every once in a while. But they continue to increase," he said. He cited from January to March, there were 1.78 million foreign tourists who visited the country compared to 1.6 million for the same period last year. "We can attribute this growth in arrivals to the 160,000 airline seats that have been added to this year with new direct flights connecting local secondary airports to China, South Korea… For example, like Kalibo to Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Zhengzhou or Cebu to Wuhan, Chongqing, and Chengdu and Clark to Incheon," Abella explained. He also cited the Philippine tourism deals with China, Cambodia, Thailand and Turkey. "We should be looking up, you know. We don’t really focus on critics. We focus on actual work and processes. And there really is an increase, it’s quite positive," he added. WEF's Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report cited 14 pillars in ranking 136 countries. Overall, the Philippines ranked at 79th, 5 notches lower from the 2015 report. Its ranking was lower compared with most of its Southeast Asian neighbors. Singapore was at 13th place; Malaysia, 26th; Thailand, 34th; Indonesia, 42nd; and Vietnam, 67th. The Philippines only surpassed Lao PDR (94th) and Cambodia (101st). Japan ranked 4th. The Department of Tourism earlier admitted some foreign tourists have cancelled their trips to the Philippines due to state of martial law declared in the whole of Mindanao. (Celerina Monte/DMS)