The Philippines expects deeper tourism cooperation with China to generate massive employment opportunities and investments in the sector, its Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco said on Thursday.

A government agreement to promote tourism cooperation between the two countries was signed in Beijing on Wednesday during a three-day state visit to China by Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos.

The program commits the two countries to work together on "increasing tourist arrivals, resuming and adding direct flights to key and emerging destinations, joint promotional activities, and inviting tourism investments in infrastructure, among others," Frasco said in a statement.

"We are grateful for China's commitment and interest," she said. "We have ushered in this new era of tourism focused on building the industry into a stronger, more sustainable, and more resilient economic pillar."

Under the new cooperation agreement, both countries have agreed to strengthen the mutual development in the field of hotels, resorts, cruise, port, tourism products, and other related industries and competency standards.

Local tour operators and travel agencies are also encouraged to participate in the program by jointly advertising both countries' tourist offerings.

"We will encourage investments in tourism infrastructure and support tourism enterprises of both countries to cooperate in developing tourism projects," Frasco said, adding her department will focus particularly on promoting eco-friendly products and services.

In 2019, the Philippines recorded 8.26 million international visitor arrivals, with China ranking second top tourist market with a total of 1.74 million arrivals.

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