Philippines this week hosts UN’s first regional forum on food travel Country expands halal tourism portfolio to attract more Muslim visitors CEBU CITY: The Philippines is tapping into its diverse culinary heritage to attract visitors, especially from Gulf Cooperation Council countries, its tourism chief said, as the country hosted the UN’s first regional forum on food travel. The conference in Cebu was held in conjunction with the UN Tourism’s annual joint meeting of the Commission for East Asia and the Pacific, and the Commission for South Asia. Co-organized by the Philippine government, the forum focused on policies to advance the culinary tourism of the Asia-Pacific region. “We greatly value the opportunity to expand Philippine tourism to the Middle Eastern market, especially by way of our Filipino flavors,” Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco told Arab News on the sidelines of the UN meetings on Friday. She added that tourism arrivals from GCC countries had more than recovered following the global pandemic. The COVID-19 outbreak dealt a major blow to the Philippine tourism industry — a main contributor to the economy — but after shutdowns in 2020 and 2021, it is back on track, and is forecast to soon meet its pre-pandemic level of 8.26 million visitor arrivals in 2019. Part of the strategy to revive the sector was expanding the country’s halal tourism portfolio, which last month — for a second consecutive time — won the Philippines the Emerging Muslim-friendly non-Organization of Islamic Cooperation Destination award at the annual Halal in Travel Global Summit in Singapore. The predominantly Catholic country, where Muslims constitute about 10 percent of the nearly 120 million population, has welcomed more than 2 million international travelers since the beginning of the year, with a 10 percent increase, compared with last year, in the number of visitors arriving from GCC countries, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which are among the Philippine government’s key emerging-market targets. “We relish the opportunity to welcome our Middle Eastern friends to the country and we are now presently working on strategic partnerships,” Frasco said. “We also possess tourism products that are quite attractive to the Middle Eastern market, especially in terms of our leisure tourism products, our sand and beach, our diving, as well as our luxury tourism destinations, and our health and wellness and medical tourism portfolio.” As the Philippines hosted the UN Tourism Regional Forum on Gastronomy Tourism for Asia and the Pacific, its latest focus is food tourism — a burgeoning trend in the Middle East, where travelers seek authentic culinary experiences. With about 2 million Filipinos living and working in the region, Philippine stakeholders understand their requirements. “Our very talented Filipino chefs and support crew populate many kitchens all over the world as well as many tourism establishments, including those in the Middle East,” Frasco said. “We hope to be able to fully open up opportunities for Filipino flavors to be known to the world especially.”