Tourist arrivals drop in RP

Tourist arrivals drop in RP

MANILA (AFP): Tourist arrivals in the Philippines dropped 1.26
percent in the first eight months of the year, an official
statement said Sunday.

The statement quoted a report by the Philippine Convention and
Visitors Corp. which blamed the regional financial crisis and
Philippine Airlines' (PAL) temporary closure in the second half
for the fall.

However, tourist arrivals for the Christmas season were
expected to rise 20 percent to offset the "drop in the number of
tourists who visited the country at the height of the Philippine
Airlines strike from June to August and its temporary closure in
September."

The Philippines had achieved a five-year average growth rate
of 12.8 percent in tourist arrivals before the regional economic
crisis began, and a record 2.2 million tourists visited the
Philippines in 1997, the year Asian currencies began to tumble,
the report said.