The HSMA official said that the growth they have seen recently was fueled by local demand, hinting that there is much room for growth once the country’s international tourism industry recovers.
She explained that the pandemic made hotels and travel agencies focus more on the domestic market—describing it as their “own backyard”—which helped support the industry thanks to strong local demand. The DOT said this led to $3.68 billion or P208.96 billion worth of revenues, benefitting 5.3 million Filipinos employed in the tourism industry.
The HSMA said that many of these professionals have since shifted to other jobs because of that, with a good number of those people going over to the business process outsourcing industry.