Philippines’ tourism sector posts revenue loss of over 8 billion USD

The Philippines lost around 400 billion pesos (8.3 billion USD) in tourism revenue in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a tourism official.

Friday, February 05, 2021 18:04

Philippines’ tourism sector posts revenue loss of over 8 billion USD ảnh 1

Taking samples for COVID-19 testing (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The Philippines lost around 400 billion pesos (8.3billion USD) in tourism revenue in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, accordingto a tourism official.

Tourism Undersecretary officer-in-charge Roberto Alabadotold a congressional hearing that only 1.3 million foreign tourists visited thePhilippines in 2020, or more than 80 percent lower than the 8.3 millionvisitors to the Southeast Asian country in 2019.

The abrupt fall in tourist arrivals affected around 5.7million jobs in the tourism sector, he added.

Alabado stressed the need to revive the tourism industrybecause of its contribution to the economy.

The tourism industry contributed 12.7 percent to thePhilippine economy in 2019, the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

The coronavirus epidemic forced the Philippines and manycountries to impose lockdown measures to curb its spread by closing borders.Tourism activities ground to a halt affecting various enterprises anddisplacing workers.

The Philippine government is slowly easing domestic travelrestrictions as it began reopening destinations for domestic travel with healthand safety protocols in place./.

VNA

#COVID-19 #Philippines #tourism revenue #400 billion pesos #Roberto Alabado #Vietnam #Vietnamplus #Vietnam News Agency

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