Saturday, August 25, 2012

Philippine tourism faces climate crisis challenge

Imelda V. Abaño in the Business Mirror (Philippines): The tourism industry, like the rest of the economy, needs to urgently act on viable and sustainable solutions to avert climate crisis  if tourism is to survive, according to the Department of Tourism (DOT).

As the Philippines is already suffering from the impacts of climate change such as increase in frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones, sea-level rise, flooding, droughts, erosion, coral bleaching, among other impacts, the tourism industry must develop and implement strategies to face the issue, said DOT’s Undersecretary for Tourism Planning and Promotions Daniel Corpuz.

“The changing climate will become an increasingly pivotal issue affecting tourism and management. This is a critical issue for the industry that needs to be addressed. The entire tourism product will be affected if we fail to adapt immediately,” Corpuz said during the two-day 1st Philippine Tourism Conference on Climate Change Adaptation, which ended on Friday.

Corpuz explained to the more than 800 participants that the tourism sector is a major part of the Philippine economy with 11.4-percent contribution to gross domestic product, sustaining 3.8 millions jobs in 2011. Last year the DOT recorded 29.1 million local travelers and 3.9 million foreign tourist arrivals, with Korea, the US, Japan and China as the country’s largest tourism market....

After sunset at Boracay beach, Philippines, shot by Sarahr, public domain

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