PHL tourism promotions get ₧1.3 billion for 2024

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo @akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

THE Tourism Promotions Board (TPB), the marketing arm of the Department of Tourism (DOT) has access to some P1.27 billion in funds next year.

According to the National Expenditure Program (NEP) for fiscal year 2024 of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), said amount will be sourced from the Tourism Promotions Fund, set up under Republic Act No. 9353 (Tourism Act of 2009).

The fund is sourced from at least 25 percent of the 50-percent national government’s share from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and at least 25 percent of the national government’s share remitted by international airports and seaports.

Formerly the Philippine Conventions and Visitors Corp., the TPB is a government-owed and -controlled corporation, and headed by a chief operating officer. The government firm is chaired by the Tourism Secretary.

The TPB allocation, along with the funds for the DOT, lift the government’s total budget to attract international tourists and encourage domestic travelers to visit the Philippines to just P1.27 billion, a significant drawback compared to marketing and promotions funds of other countries in Southeast Asia. (See, “Tourism’s a priority, but agencies get P3B less fund,” in the BusinessMirror, August 8, 2023.)

Poor budget utilization rate In a news briefing on Monday, DBM Secretary Amenah Pangandaman addressed concerns that a number of government agencies, like the DOT, have been allocated lower budgets for FY2024. She attributed the trimmed budgets of these government agencies, which also include the Departments of Information and Communication Technology, Agrarian Reform, and Labor and Employment, to their “low budget utilization rates.”

Pangandaman said these agencies are supposed to submit their respective “catch-up plans” to show how they can speed up the utilization of their budgets for the rest of 2023. “Many of them have already submitted their catch-up plans, because if you notice, the administration is new, there are new senior officers and officials, all of them have a learning curve,” she explained.

According to a Commission on Audit (COA) report on DOT’s financial state last year, nearly 35 percent of the agency’s appropriations of P3.07 billion was “unobligated,” or were not earmarked for specific expenditures, while close to 20 percent of the earmarked funds for projects amounting to P1.6 billion, was “undisbursed.” Moreover, 16.6 percent of the notice of cash allocations for the DOT amounting to P3.62 billion, “was unutilized…[and] reverted to the Bureau of Treasury.” (See, “COA cites DOT-Osec for irregular expenses; questions purhcases by regional offices,” in the BusinessMirror, July 17, 2023.)