A possible tourism collaboration between the Philippines and the United States (US) is now being eyed, following US Ambassador to the Philippines Marykay Carlson's courtesy visit to the head office of the Department of Tourism (DOT) in Makati City.

In a statement released on Friday, March 24, the DOT disclosed that Carlson's meeting with Tourism Secretary Christina G. Frasco "provided several points of possible collaboration on tourism between the US and the Philippines."

"In the course of their discussion, Ambassador Carlson broached the idea of History Tourism which she said could have a potential market in the US cognizant of the role played by Americans in the Philippines during the World War II," the DOT said.

"Secretary Frasco shared to the Ambassador the Department’s strategies to entice more tourists to come to the country which include digitalization through  the tourist lifecycle app, increasing connectivity to secondary airports in the country to provide easier access to destinations, as well as ensuring tourists’ safety through close collaboration with agencies of the government mandated to ensure peace and order in the country," it added.

Frasco noted the possibility of having a Memorandum of Understanding signed by US and the Philippines.

“I would like to formalize our intention to have a memorandum of cooperation with the United States so that we may be able to institutionalize the means by which we could work together especially in terms of new means of capacity building of our tourism frontliners, exchange of information, and best practices," she said.

According to to the tourism department, the possible enhancement of Philippine Medical Tourism was also brought into the discussion.

The DOT chief invited the US ambassador, as well, to join the Philippine Experience program of the DOT where the agency offers not only sites and places of interest but also the experience of colorful festivals, gastronomic delights, "as well as the warm smiles and hospitality of the Filipino".

In 2019, the US was the third largest source of foreign arrivals for the Philippines with 1.06 million visitors.

It was the top tourist market of the Philippines with 505,089 arrivals in 2022.

Meanwhile, from January to March 22, 2023, the DOT recorded 231,327 arrivals from the US.