Revisiting Sustainable Tourism in the Philippines

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in significant declines in international tourist arrivals and receipts. It has also influenced destination preference, tourist demographic, travel motivation, and behavior. Recognizing health and safety as the new considerations in pursuing tourism activities in the better normal, this necessitated a reassessment of the current tourism industry by directing the attention from the usual destination-centric perspective to a value chain perspective. This chapter proposes a new paradigm for the better normal value chain by deconstructing the concepts of travel, tourism, and travel sectors and revisiting the concept of the tourism value chain (TVC) by mapping out the chain and its functional levels and integrating travel, tourism, and hospitality sectors in one value chain. Policymaking approaches such as reorganizing the value chain, empowering stakeholder involvement through coopetition, and resilience building in the face of possible adversities in the future should be adapted to achieve this suggested paradigm's goals. This analysis provides stakeholders with a broader understanding of the needed interventions in future-proofing the industry backed by industry trends in the better normal while fostering collaboration and offering flexibility to cope better in other possible shocks in the future.

The tourism industry's deep interindustry linkages makes it a significant engine of growth for an economy. When aligned with specific sustainability goals, it becomes an effective means of inclusive prosperity and environmental protection. Coming fresh from the lockdown, investors and stakeholders are more conscious of their investing and spending decisions preferring more and more businesses and industries with sustainable business practices (Leal Filho et al., 2022). Specifically, tourism's generation of business and customer values must also extend to generation of value to the environment, society, and even on governance (GIZ, 2020). This chapter, using a system's view approach, demonstrates how activities in the tourism value chain – besides being an engine of growth – can also be the vehicle to attaining environmental, social, and governance (ESG) aspirations.

Tourism value chain (TVC) analysis has been widely used as an alternative approach for designing sustainable and inclusive programs for tourism development in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. This chapter looks at the experiences of three sustainable tourism initiatives in the Philippines to assess the strengths and limitations of the value chain as a framework for destination development. Short case studies describe the experiences of stakeholders in two popular destinations in the Philippines: the surfing town of San Juan, La Union, and the resort-island of Panglao, Bohol. The third case study shares the perspective of the Transforming the Tourism Value Chain (TTVC) project, a national campaign for more sustainable hotels, resort as well as meetings, conventions, incentives, and event (MICE) facilities in various destinations around the country. Stakeholders deeply involved in implementing these projects share their insights on the successes, challenges, and limitations of TVC-based approaches to resilient and sustainable destination development. The destinations' experiences suggest that the advocacy for sustainable management and operations may be comparable to a process of technology adoption or acceptance along the TVC. Practical and theoretical recommendations for leveraging the TVC toward more holistic and sustainable visitor economies are given at the end of this chapter.

Informality in the tourism sector of the Philippines is a pervasive phenomenon, yet only few studies have explored the former's contribution to the latter, especially at the local level. Hence, this chapter utilizes a tourism value chain model developed by the United Nations World Tourism Organization and Directorate-General for Development and Cooperation (DEVCO) to determine the presence and examine the role of the informal sector in various spheres of Binondo's tourism industry. Findings reveal that informality is thriving in the areas of transportation, food and beverage, handicraft, leisure, excursion, tours, and support services. Conversely, they are inexistent or less visible in the accommodation and tourism assets in destination segments. Moreover, the fragmented tourism value chain of Binondo is heavily shaped by three primary challenges, namely, difference in perception between decision-makers and economic actors, resistance to change by the informal sector, and lack of relevant data to support evidence-based policymaking. To address these issues, the local government of Manila City may hence consider the following policy options: (i) mainstream a “whole-of-locality” approach, (ii) conduct an industry mapping of Binondo's tourism value chain, (iii) facilitate linkages between formal and informal businesses, (iv) develop shared infrastructure and extend capacity-building to the informal sector, and (v) employ a regulatory sandbox approach.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reduced much of the complexities of human life, which has affected the multifaceted socioeconomic dimensions and sectors around the world. One of the main consequences of the pandemic is the reduction in physical mobility and shifting toward a more digitally enhanced platform, where activities may be continued given the imposed physical limitations. Global supply chains were broken down into regional and even local ones and travel has been reduced significantly across leisure and nonleisure reasons, among others. While we recognize that these changes would require substantial capital and financial investments, these will not be put to waste given that emerging models, practices, and trends are the “silver linings” of the pandemic onto the tourism sector. Given that one emerging advocacy is the sustainability of tourism destinations under the backdrop of environmental awareness, care, and sustainable use, we also look at how tourism goods and services are put on sale given the adoption of new models. Finally, we envelope the pandemic experience and the induced iterations of local tourism initiatives as an opportunity to look for new and revitalized tourism innovations toward the “next normal.”

Emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philippines has undergone the “new normal” transition, creating a strategic recovery effort to reinvigorate the industry. In tourism, these transitions aim to safeguard employees' and guests' health and safety, ensure continuity of business operations, boost tourism confidence leading to satisfaction, and establish a resilient and sustainable tourism industry in the postpandemic era. Hence, this chapter employs a system thinking leveraging a causal loop diagram (CLD) to construct a comprehensive roadmap for Philippine tourism's postpandemic resurgence through the system thinking lens. The CLD visually illustrates the inter-related factors influencing the recovery process, encompassing collaborative engagements, innovations, economic revitalization, and health and safety protocols. By analyzing the causal relationships among these variables, this chapter explicates the dynamic and interconnected nature of the postpandemic recovery leading to the recovery of the Philippine tourism industry, especially in the context of thinking small. Through this chapter, thinking small could involve a shift toward localized solutions and community-focused initiatives that allow them to foster local economies, build resilience, and create a more inclusive and sustainable postpandemic recovery.

As the tourism industry recovers from the devastating effects of the global pandemic, meeting the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) remains to be a global “deadline” where tourism is seen as a major contributor. While disruptions to business-as-usual practices such as COVID-19 present unprecedented challenges, they can also provide opportunities for strategic innovation to change behavior toward sustainable tourism experiences. Active transport for low-carbon tourism such as walking or cycling tours have risen in popularity in recent years, and especially postpandemic, as they provide opportunities for a more personalized experience while health and safety protocols can still be implemented. They also present health benefits for the individuals while contributing to environmental sustainability and climate mitigation strategies of the tourism industry. This book chapter presents cases of various forms of tourism activities that use active transport, focusing on walking tours and cycling tours. Various companies offering tours under these modes are discussed and presented. These two modes promote authentic cultural and heritage tourism experiences through the local experts that provide the services.

Environmental protection and conservation have been closely linked with the promotion of sustainable tourism across destinations. This is underpinned by the assumption that the environment and tourism have an interdependent relationship – where tourism activities need to support the preservation and conservation of environmental areas so that such economic activities can be sustained. That is a balance must be struck between the two. Within these two areas, women have been recognized to play a crucial role – in tourism, women were seen to dominate the industry's workforce globally; in environmental efforts, women were believed to play a key role in supporting such initiatives across societies. In both areas, women's efforts, despite being crucial to the achievement of sustainability, are often perceived as small and thus overlooked. Despite these, little has been said about their experiences in promoting sustainable tourism. To contribute to discourses promoting the idea of “thinking small,” this chapter looks at women's tourism-related environmental efforts that are often seen as small and overlooked, alongside their experiences in being involved in these initiatives.

As the Philippines enters into the era of the “next normal,” that is, from the pandemic era called the “new normal,” we look into how the Philippines' state of tourism and built environment sectors. We also revisit its situation having the “longest lockdown in the world” and look into iterations of socioeconomic models, business platforms, and other elements that lead to the dream of a postpandemic sustainable tourism industry. In this inquiry, we highlight the importance of elements of the built environment, both at the macroeconomic level and at the micro units of business, civil society, and the tourism sector at large. While there has been a substantive discussion on the nexus of the tourism and built environment sectors, little has been devoted to the challenges these intertwined sectors faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. We suggest complementation of practices from the macroscale to the microlevel tourism and built environment sectors, and vice-versa, which will ensure the full complementation of the sectors. These proposals are in full contextualization of the objective toward the postpandemic continued recovery, growth, and sustainability, from the local, national, and the regional economy of Southeast Asia, and also to various parts of the world.

This chapter focuses on cycle tourism using Bambike (Bamboo Bike) as sustainable transportation in the heritage site of Intramuros to promote cultural awareness and environmental preservation. Bambike is a bicycle where parts are made from natural bamboo and abaca with aircraft grade alloys tested for durability that passed the standards in the industry. The purpose of this chapter is to determine the value of cycle tourism using Bambike to promote green tourism in Intramuros and preserve its attractions. Its significance and benefits as to economic, environmental, and sociocultural impacts have been analyzed. The information source and data collection for this research was from the selected local and international tourists in Intramuros who have experienced and booked a trip with Bambike. An interview with structure questionnaire was done for the tourists and Bambike staff. It was concluded that Bambike can contribute to create site awareness leading to desire to preserve the heritage sites of Intramuros.

Sustainable tourism development is currently a practice for most destinations in the world. It is associated with conceptualizing, implementing, and monitoring policies and programs with balanced economic, sociocultural, environmental, and politico-administrative implications. It is manifested through understanding and integrating the significance of tourism resources, specifically sites and attractions, and the perspectives of primary and secondary stakeholders. This book chapter explicated the significance and implementation of value and rights-based approaches to tourism development through the case of the Samar Island Natural Park (SINP) in the Philippines. It highlighted the value of SINP based on its natural and cultural heritage significance and the perspectives of People's Organizations as tourism front liners of SINP. In the end, a Sustainable Tourism and Strategic Development Framework was explained as the by-product of interconnecting the value and rights-based approaches. The discourse recognizes the interaction between preserving the park's natural integrity and maximizing its tourism potential for the benefit of the local communities and also examines the different aspects of SINP – its vibrant ecosystems and rich cultural legacy, that set it apart as a unique destination.

In the realm of postpandemic perspectives, tourism was awakened to see that atop economic viability is resiliency. Shift in the demand to visit ecotourism destinations became a valuable opportunity to the local community to capitalize on natural resources as primary precursor for livelihood, substantiating their communal role as bailiffs in the conservation of protected landscapes and mitigators of the negative tourism implications. As tourism initiates in rethinking sustainability and inclusivity, the postpandemic paradigm in destination planning became anew. Aside from being an agritourism destination, Nueva Ecija has been promoted as an emerging ecotourism destination. Various literature has evaluated local ecotourism destinations in the Philippines, yet few literature examined the potential of Nueva Ecija. The emerging popularity of the province's ecotourism postpandemic beckons the inflow of tourists compelling for an in-place policy toward sustainability. The study aims to underscore the destination branding of Nueva Ecija as a tourist destination using a strategic framework derived from ecotourism concepts and best practices. Qualitative data from various tourism stakeholders were collected, and internal and external factors were analyzed. Results of the study may serve as a foundation toward a unified framework to assess and strengthen ecotourism destinations toward sustainability and tourism destination resiliency.

While government is known to provide political guidance and exercising its executive function, it is also has regulatory powers through laws it enacts. In fostering sustainability, it is important to inquire how government's role can be innovated to facilitate sustainability, particularly in the travel and tourism industry. By reviewing tourism governance literature and mapping governance roles in the travel and tourism industry, this chapter creates a policy framework that underscores a new approach to tourism governance. We underscore that government's role must pivot toward being more developmental than regulatory so that it can effectively stimulate the market to sustainability by fostering value creation, supporting manpower capacitation, ensuring health and safety, and protecting the environment. This can be done if government will not fix the market and promote free market policymaking.