Tuesday, August 10, 2004 More entry points for tourists urged
EASIER access to the country will increase tourism arrivals. This is why Sen. Richard Gordon, a former tourism secretary, is pushing a bill that will open the Iloilo and Silay airports.
In an interview over the ANC network, he said more international airports would “internationalize the market.”
Tourism Secretary Roberto Pagdanganan has said international tourist arrivals to the country resulted in the creation of 1.9 million jobs last year.
“Every international tourist spending $1,000 means one new direct job and one new indirect job,” he said.
Data from the Public Affairs Office of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority show that the number of both international and domestic passengers that went through the Mactan airport increased in the first five months of this year.
International passenger arrivals grew 62 percent to 118,963 from January to May, compared to 73,427 in the same period last year.
Domestic passenger arrivals also climbed 16 percent to 428,129.
Although the Iraq war and the Severe Acute Repiratory Syndrome may have caused the base figures last year to be low, the current figures were still good.
MCIAA public affairs manager Ahmed Cuizon said international passenger arrivals in the first quarter of 2003 fell only four percent, while domestic arrivals slipped one percent, from the same quarter in 2002. CTL
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