Laguna rep: Tourist ban may slash PH tourism revenues

Laguna Rep. Sol Aragones, chairperson of the House committee on tourism, stated that the Philippine ban on tourist arrivals due to the novel coronavirus (nCoV) threat could drastically cut tourism revenues.

She noted that over one-fifth of tourists visiting the country are from China, which has imposed a lockdown due to the outbreak.

Aragones mentioned that DOT had expected 9.2 million foreign visitors in 2020, spending an estimated P661 billion, but these numbers may need to be revisited due to travel restrictions.

Between January and November 2019, Chinese tourists comprised 22 percent of the country's 7.4 million foreign visitors, totaling 1.63 million.

With President Duterte's ban on foreigners from China, Hong Kong, and Macau, the number of Chinese tourists is expected to drop to zero.

Aragones suggested that the tourism sector might need to focus more on promoting domestic tourism to offset potential slowdowns in foreign arrivals.

She highlighted that the tourism industry employs 5.4 million Filipinos, and a broad swath of industries could be affected by travel restrictions.