MANILA – The United States Embassy in Manila sees “history tourism” attracting more American tourists to the Philippines.
The Department of Tourism (DOT) on Friday said US Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson posited this tourism product’s potentials during a meeting with Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco on March 23.
“In the course of their discussion, Ambassador Carlson broached the idea of History Tourism which she said could have a potential market in the US cognizant of the role played by Americans in the Philippines during the World War II,” the DOT said.
The US is the country’s top tourist market in 2022, with a total of 505,089 arrivals. As of March 22 alone, the Philippines already welcomed more than 231,000 US travelers since the beginning of 2023.
To further boost exchange between the two countries, Frasco proposed a memorandum of understanding on tourism cooperation.
“I would like to formalize our intention to have a memorandum of cooperation with the United States so that we may be able to institutionalize the means by which we could work together especially in terms of new means of capacity building of our tourism frontliners, exchange of information, and best practices,“ she said.
The possible enhancement of Philippine Medical Tourism was also brought into the discussion towards the end of the meeting, the DOT said Friday.
Prior to the pandemic, the US was the third largest source of foreign arrivals for the Philippines with 1.06 million visitors. (PNA)
PHOTO: HISTORY TOURISM. US Ambassador MaryKay Carlson in a meeting with Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco at the DOT office in Makati City on Thursday (March 23, 2023). The United States Embassy in Manila sees “history tourism” attracting more American tourists to the Philippines. (Photo courtesy of the DOT)
