At the end of the year, we still expect zero growth overall. Having a zero growth is better than going negative. So we want to be realistic. At the end of the year, we would be very happy if we make it with 3 million arrivals, Palabyab said.
He said there has been a contraction of outbound traffic from the Philippines usual markets like Japan and South Korea, which both registered reduced arrivals, but added that increased arrivals from China and Taiwan have sort of compensated for the loss.
Payabyab also said that domestic tourism received a boost from the so-called holiday economics observed by the Arroyo administration, which involves clustering holidays to weekends to allow workers to plan their vacations around the long weekends.
He said that with less international traffic into the country, local tourists are proving to be the bread and butter of local tourism.
He said that among domestic tourists, Cebu City is the favored destination, followed by Camarines Sur and Baguio City and the rest of the Cordillera Autonomous Region.
Other local favorites are Bohol and Palawan, which both achieved double-digit growth in domestic tourism, Palabyab said.
