300,000 drop in PH passengers noted

The Philippines recorded a drop of more than 300,000 international and local passengers following the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak that prompted countries to impose travel restrictions.

From Jan. 25 to Feb. 17, some 1,352,692 foreigners flew into the country, down by 272,006 from the 1,624,698 international travelers recorded in the same period last year, Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) general manager Eddie Monreal said on Wednesday.

Domestic travelers, on the other hand, reached 1,406,876, down by 49,829 from 1,456,705 in the same period last year, he said in a press briefing in Malacañang.

The number of flights also saw a 22-percent drop.

Travel bans

It was during this period that China, a major source of tourists to the Philippines, restricted the movements of its citizens to contain the outbreak of COVID-19 believed to have originated in Wuhan City, Hubei’s capital.

The Philippines also imposed a ban on arrivals from China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, although the government has since allowed vacationing Filipino workers to return to Hong Kong and Macau and lifted the ban on Taiwan.

Tourism officials estimate the foregone revenue from the drop in foreign arrivals from February to April at P42.9 billion.

Monreal, however, said the country had been “slowly recovering.”

The drop in arrivals has prompted the Department of Tourism to draw up a campaign to spur local travel, and even President Duterte is expected to visit the archipelago’s top destinations by way of promotion.

Monreal said the MIAA was studying proposals from airlines to lower fees imposed on them so that they could offer more local flights.