The industry’s total contribution, which reflected not only the economic activities of directly related industries, but also the wider effects from investment, the supply chain and induced income impacts, is also expected to rise by 6.6 per cent this year and further increase by 5.4 per cent to P2.6 trillion by 2026, data from the WTTC’s Travel and Tourism Economic Impact 2016 report showed.

The industry’s direct contribution—a measure of the economic activity generated by industries such as hotels, travel agents, airlines and other passenger transportation services—rose to P569 billion last year, equivalent to 4.2 per cent of total GDP. Direct contribution is similarly expected to grow by 6 per cent to P604 billion this year and by 5.3 per cent yearly to P1 trillion by 2026.

“The direct contribution of travel and tourism to GDP reflects the internal spending on travel and tourism or the total spending within a particular country by residents and non-residents for business and leisure purposes, as well as government individual spending or spending by government on services directly linked to visitors, such as cultural (e.g. museums) or recreational (e.g. national parks),” the report explained.

According to WTTC, investments made in Philippine travel and tourism last year reached P76 billion, or about 2.7 per cent of total recorded investments. On the back of an expected continued rise in arrivals, investments in this sector are expected to grow by 8.3 per cent this year and by 5.5 per cent annually over the next 10 years to P140 billion.

Money spent by foreign visitors, or what WTTC termed as visitor exports, was deemed a key component of the direct contribution of travel and tourism to the local economy. In 2015, the Philippines generated P294.4 billion in visitor exports, a figure expected to grow by 3.6 per cent this year, during which the country is expected to attract some 5.5 million international tourists.

By 2026, international tourist arrivals are forecast to hit 9.19 million, generating an expenditure of about P579.8 billion, on the back of an expected yearly growth of 6.6 per cent for receipts.

As for employment, the Philippine travel and tourism industry supported 1.3 million jobs in 2015.

This figure included employment by hotels, travel agents, airlines and other passenger transportation services as well as activities of the restaurant and leisure industries directly supported by tourists.

Employment in the travel and tourism industry is seen to rise by 3.1 per cent in 2016 and by 2.4 per cent a year to 1.65 million jobs by 2026.