Manila: The Philippines’ tourism minister has said media reports about extrajudicial killings taking place in the country’s anti-drug war are scaring away tourists.
Speaking during an interview in Thailand, where she was part of President Rodrigo Duterte’s official contingent, Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo said all the talk about the Philippines turning into a virtual killing field of drug addicts was not doing the country any good.
“The Philippines is fast becoming an alternative destination in Asia. Help us sell the Philippines,” she said, adding that it would be difficult to market the country to travellers if the talk concerning extrajudicial killings continue.
Last week, Vice-President Leni Robredo released a video to the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, in which she criticised the conduct of the current administration’s war against illegal drugs.
Teo advised Robredo to tone down her criticism concerning the government’s anti-drugs campaign, saying this was deterring travellers from visiting the country.
At the same time, Teo said the Philippines has so much to learn from Thailand in terms of tourism development strategies, noting that it tops south East Asian countries in terms of visitor arrivals.
During Duterte’s visit to Thailand, Manila and Bangkok agreed to revive the 23-year-old tourism cooperation agreement.
According to the Manila-based travel and tour operators who accompanied Teo’s group, the shared tourism programme could strengthen the awareness of international as well as the Thai market about the Philippines destinations.
In 2016, visitor arrivals from Thailand went up by 8.8 per cent reaching 47,913. In addition, Thailand accounts for 10 per cent of the total arrivals from the ten member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The agreement stipulates, among others, that the two countries shall actively encourage their respective local travel agents to develop a joint promotional program that would market both the Philippines and Thailand destinations in one tour package.
