Philippines to record growth in tourist arrivals in 2018, but may miss target

14 December, 2018

Philippines' Department of Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said tourist arrivals to the Philippines for 2018 are likely to exceed the figure for 2017, but are unlikely to reach the department's target of 7.4 million due to the closure of Boracay from Apr-2018 to Oct-2018 (Business World Online, 13-Dec-2018). Ms Romulo-Puyat forecast 7.0 to 7.2 million arrivals for 2018, up from 6.6 million in 2017. Arrivals increased 7.4% year-on-year to 5.88 million for the first 10 months of 2018.