ABSTRACT
A look at a map of the Philippines shows an archipelagic country. Its 7100 islands cover a land area of 299,764km², spread over an area of two million km² of sea, grouped into three regions: Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao with the capital city of Manila. The Philippines has some 90 million inhabitants with many affinities to the outside world, derived mainly from the cultures of Spain, Latin America and the United States. Partly as a result, tourists play an important role in the Philippine economy; in the year 2008, net tourism income in the Philippines totalled 3.6 billion US dollars (www.traveldocs.com/ph/economy.htm). Most visitors come from the United States, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong. But there are also tourists from Taiwan, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Great Britain, Switzerland and Germany. Though Philippine tourism started to flourish in the 1970s and 1980s, the country has remained fairly ‘non-touristic’ compared to other regions in south-east Asia. Nevertheless, one objective of the Philippine government is to boost the so called ecotourism, and this is supported by the authorities and Philippine laws.
