The growing tourism sector will continue to create jobs for Filipinos to help tide the nation over the ongoing global economic storm, the Department of Tourism (DOT) said.

According to Tourism Secretary Ace Durano, the industry will be needing more manpower as it expands capacity to accommodate a bigger volume of tourists in the country.

Durano said that the first quarter saw some 1.3 million foreign and domestic tourists, a 10.3 percent rise from the figure recorded in the same period last year, indicating another banner year for the tourism industry.

He noted that over 1,230 hotel and resort rooms worth P8 billion were opened early this year, and another 2,315 would be built by year-end.

These are part of the P550-billion expansion projects of various investors involving some 7,000 new hotel and resort rooms.

“Such developments necessarily create jobs and livelihood. So rest assured that we in the DOT (Department of Tourism) and the private sector are working very hard to keep our tourism booming and help fill up some gaps in the economy,” said Durano.

On May 22 and 23, the DOT will be holding the annual "Trabaho sa Turismo" job fair at the SMX Convention Center in Manila where 270 employers will be participating, 54 percent more than last year's 175. This indicates a bigger number of job openings available this year, the DOT said.

"The global competitiveness of our tourism professionals, as regularly promoted during the annual job fair, is one of our key selling points in attracting investors,” Durano explained.

Participating in the Manila fair are DOT-accredited local and foreign-based employers such as airlines, shipping/cruise companies, hotels, resorts, restaurants, travel agencies, tour operators, convention and exhibition centers, spa and wellness establishments, recruitment firms, golf clubs, malls and department stores, call centers and business process outsourcing companies, banks, schools, government agencies, and entertainment outfits, among many others.

“Many of these employers are themselves expanding their individual tourism-related operations and they need big number of people for that,” Durano said.