VIENNA, Austria– The Philippines is strengthening its tourism ties with Austria, in a bid
to capture more visitors from this emerging European source market.
On the invitation of the Austrian State Secretary for Tourism, Philippines Department of
Tourism (PDOT) Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco on March 7, 2024, engaged in a
working visit to Susanne Kraus-Winkler in Vienna, Austria, to explore ways to further
strengthen the relations between the two nations, particularly on tourism.
Secretary Frasco noted the huge opportunity in the Austrian market, citing the
impressive 89 percent recovery rate of visitor arrivals from Austria to the Philippines in
2023 at 13,180, vis-à-vis the 14,840 arrivals recorded in 2019 pre-COVID-19 pandemic.
Interestingly, the Filipino community makes up the largest Asian community in Austria,
with approximately 30,000 Filipinos, and as many as 60,000 Filipino-Austrian nationals.
During the meeting held at the sidelines of ITB Berlin 2024, Secretary Frasco reiterated
the intent of the Philippines to pursue a Memorandum of Tourism Cooperation with
Austria that will mutually grow the tourism numbers of the two countries, exchange best
practices in culture, heritage, and retirement tourism, strengthen sustainable tourism
frameworks and upskilling programs in hospitality, and facilitate the enhanced
connectivity between the Philippines and Austria.
“Following our discussions in Manila during your visit last year, we wish to reiterate the
interest of the Philippines to sign a Memorandum of Tourism Cooperation to formalize
our efforts to benchmark best tourism practices on sustainable tourism, enhance our
people-to-people exchanges, and further enhance our frameworks on human capital
development, among others,” said Secretary Frasco.
“We acknowledge the opportunity to strengthen the market; we also wish to maximize
the opportunity to educate and inform Austrians about our tourism products in the
Philippines which are of great interest to Europeans including our beaches, dive sites,
adventure offerings, and experiential travel across our islands and among our diverse
communities,” the Tourism Chief tells her Austrian counterpart. Secretary Frasco also
took the opportunity to share the Department of Tourism’s nationwide program to train
Filipino tourism workers in the Filipino Brand of Service Excellence with over 126,000
trained in 2023 alone; as well as to discuss the country’s English as a Second
Language (ESL) Program with the Philippines ranking among the top 5 providers of this
tourism product worldwide.
According to Secretary Kraus-Winkler, the largest employment sectors for Filipinos in
Austria “are in tourism and care,” with almost a quarter of the Filipino diaspora in Austria
currently working in the tourism sector.
Secretary Kraus-Winkler likewise broached the conclusion of a “working holiday
program” provided for in the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed in Manila
between the Austrian and Philippine Governments in October 2023.
"Tourism generally benefits from working holiday programs, as young people want to
gain experience in tourism worldwide. Experience has shown that young people often
also want to explore the country where they are working and go on vacation during their
stay of up to one year. We want to further expand the good cooperation between Austria
and the Philippines in the field of tourism and promote the mobility of young people. We
are looking forward to the talks on the rapid implementation of a working holiday
program, as we were recently able to conclude with the USA," said Secretary Kraus-
Winkler.
Working holiday programs combine vacations with practical work experience abroad to
enable young people to finance part of their stay abroad. Through this program, they
can enter into temporary employment arrangements in the destination country and also
make use of educational institutions.
The “workation” program is aimed at people aged between 18 and 30 years old who
want to broaden their understanding of other countries and cultures. Foreign language
skills are an important aspect of a successful start to working life abroad.
The discussions between the tourism leaders also tackled concerns on sustainability
and the pivotal role of digitalization of tourism on the economies of the Philippines and
Austria.
“We express our profound gratitude for your graciousness in receiving the Philippine
delegation. In line with the vision of our President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. to promote
a tourism industry that is sustainable, inclusive, and resilient, we are here to learn from
your vast experience in the implementation of sustainability practices; likewise, we
wish to know more about your government’s mechanisms for supporting sustainable
tourism infrastructure, noting your government’s experiences and expertise on the said
matter,” said Secretary Frasco.
Also present in the meeting were Adrian Gasser of the Austrian Federal Ministry of
Labour and Economy and Arnulf Gressl of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber.
Meanwhile, the Secretary was joined by Philippine Ambassador to Austria Evangelina
Lourdes Arroyo-Bernas, Deputy Speaker Duke Frasco, DOT OIC-Undersecretary
Verna C. Buensuceso, and DOT-Frankfurt Tourism Attaché Dakila Gonzales.
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