MANILA – A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Philippines and State of Qatar was signed with the goal of strengthening cooperation in the aspects of “mutual development and growth of tourism and business events.”
According to the Department of Tourism (DOT), the MOU was signed by DOT Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco and State Minister for Foreign Affairs H.E. Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi on Monday and witnessed by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and Qatar Amir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani at the Malacanang Palace, as one of the agreement exchanged during the State Visit of the Qatar Amir to the Philippines.
“๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ข๐ณ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด. ๐๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฐ๐ด ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐จ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ต๐บ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ข๐ณ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต,” Secretary Frasco said.
Under the MOU, the Philippines and Qatar agreed to jointly work towards encouraging tourist flows into each country; promoting cooperation between travel and tourism agencies and other establishments to increase tourist exchange and promotion; and creating favourable conditions for movements and communications for the visiting tourists, the DOT revealed.
“The MoU also solidifies the two countries’ intent to encourage tourism investments; undertake exchange of organizational expertise, knowledge, statistics, and best practices; promote familiarization visits for media and tourism experts, and further skills development of operators, employees, and specialists in tourism through seminars and specialized trainings,” the DOT added.
On the aspect of business events, both countries have agreed to promote holding of various business events including exhibitions and conferences attractive to tourists, promote cooperation between other relevant exhibitions and conferences, organizing agencies; encourage exchange of organizational experiences in the field of business events; encourage familiarization visits in the field of business; exchange legislations and regulations; and provide possible logistical support at the international level for hosting exhibitions and international conferences.
A Joint Working Team between the Philippines and Qatar will also be formed to undertake and set up the work programme, execution, follow up, and evaluation of the activities in line with the implementation of the provisions of the agreement.
“๐๐ถ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ข๐ณ ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐บ’๐ด ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ (๐๐๐๐) 2023-2028, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด, ๐๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ, ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐น๐ฉ๐ช๐ฃ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ (๐๐๐๐) ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ค ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ต ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ป๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต’๐ด ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ด๐ช๐ข,” Frasco said.
“๐๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ-๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด ๐๐๐๐ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐บ’๐ด ๐ฃ๐ช๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ต๐ฉ–๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐น๐ต๐ณ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐น๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐จ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ด. ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ข๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ'๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ต๐ฉ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด,” Frasco added.
The signing of the MOU follows the awarding of the Philippines as the Emerging Muslim-friendly Destination of the Year (Non-OIC) at the prestigious Halal in Travel Global Summit 2023.
Based on DOT data, the Philippines received 10,438 visitor arrivals from Qatar in 2023. This year, visitor arrivals have reached 3,784 from January to April as of April 20, 2024.
