Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 12) — The number of foreign visitors who arrived in the country plummeted by 83.7% last year amid coronavirus restrictions, the Department of Tourism said on Tuesday.
In its year-end report for 2020, the DOT said that largely due to border closure, the Philippines only received some 1.3 million international tourists, down from around 8.2 million arrivals in 2019.
The total amount of receipts generated from inbound tourism, or the expenditure of foreign visitors, consequently plunged by 83.12% — from an estimated ₱482.16 billion in 2019 to ₱81.4 billion in 2020.
For 2021, the DOT said it will focus on domestic tourism recovery, after the country’s lockdown measures essentially shut down the industry.
“Recalibration of targets and refocusing to domestic tourism in the short term will be carried out,” Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said. “Hopefully, with the improvement of community quarantine levels, efforts will be intensified to help revive tourism activities and restore job and livelihood opportunities.”
Puyat stressed, however, that there is still a need to further strengthen entry protocols, especially as threats of new and possibly more contagious coronavirus variants loom. It prompted the government to temporarily ban entry of travelers from a number of countries.
READ: PH adds China, four other countries in expanded travel ban
To date, no new coronavirus variant has been detected in the country based on samples taken in November and December, the Department of Health said. According to Health spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire, the DOH is currently observing global developments on four reported variants, including one supposedly detected in Nigeria.
