‘Boracay closure hurt tourist arrivals target’

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Tourism (DOT) is not confident of hitting its target of 7.4 million tourist arrivals following the six-month closure of Boracay.  

“I am... predicting the target will change... With the closure of Boracay, I highly doubt we will reach that... What can we do? We closed a top tourist destination,” DOT Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said yesterday. 

However, Puyat said the number of tourist arrivals this year is still higher compared to last year.

DOT records showed that  5.36 million tourists have arrived since January, an increase of 8.32 percent. 

Puyat attributed the increase to accessibility to more tourism sites and affordable rates as more destinations were developed and promoted. 

Jose Clemente, Tourism Congress of the Philippines president, confirmed that the closure of Boracay adversely affected tourist arrivals in the country. 

“Even though we diverted to other destinations it still hurt tourist arrivals,” Clemente said.

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