Coming up next year: ‘Shopping Festival Philippines’ and visa-free entry for select foreign tourists
President Marcos on Wednesday approved several recommendations from the private sector to attract more foreign visitors to the country following the enactment of the value-added tax refund (VAT) mechanism for non-resident tourists.
The President approved three proposals from the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC): a nationwide “Shopping Festival Philippines,” eased visa access and the introduction of a digital identification system using biometric data.
Mr. Marcos said the PSAC’s suggestions are “significant initiatives to attract more tourists (to) the Philippines.”
The proposed “Shopping Festival Philippines” will coincide with the upcoming New Year celebrations to entice more foreign visitors and increase their tourism-related spending here, hence, boosting tourism revenues as well.
“We’ve talked about this shopping festival. Again, I think it’s properly categorized as an easy win. So, we’ll do that,” the President said.
Earlier this week, he signed Republic Act 12079, or the VAT Refund Act, which allows non-resident tourists to claim a VAT refund for goods they bought at accredited retail outlets, provided that they meet a minimum transaction requirement of P3,000 and bring the goods out of the country within 60 days of purchase.
Mr. Marcos said he does not see any major obstacles with the PSAC’s recommendation to ease visa access to American, Japanese, Australian, Canadian or Schengen (AJACS) visa holders, and to American, Japanese, Australian, Canadian, Schengen, Singapore, or United Kingdom (AJACSUK) visa holders.
Under this proposal, foreign nationals with these visas traveling for tourism or leisure may enter the Philippines for a visa-free period of seven to 14 days.
“I think we should stop messing around with this system. It’s so clear already. And again, it’s something that we don’t have to pilot because it has been done for us in many, many airports,” the President said.
He added that although the eased visa access is the “first thing” on his agenda, the recommendation must be carefully studied due to its implications on security.
Mr. Marcos also ordered a thorough review of the PSAC’s suggestion to improve the immigration experience by adapting a digital identification system using biometric data like facial recognition or fingerprints for faster, seamless processing of travel documents at ports.
“It’s just a question really of putting the systems in and getting the hardware, and then slowly educating everybody how to use that hardware. For me, it’s just a question of adopting the technology and learning how to use it. As I said, everybody else in the world is doing it already,” the President said.
