The Department of Tourism (DOT) has underscored the impressive arrivals of foreign tourists visiting the country as one of the notable achievements of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. in his first 100 days in office.
DOT Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco revealed that they have almost surpassed the DOT's 1.7 million projected tourist arrivals from July to December this year.
To date, the DOT has already recorded 1.6 million tourist arrivals since July, and it is expected to add huge numbers as the holidays are near coming.
"And I'm very happy to deliver the good news that, while the projections of the DOT prior to June 30 were that we would only receive 1.7 million tourists by the end of the year, as of yesterday, we have already reached over 1.6 million tourists, and we anticipate that we will be able to exceed the projections by the end of the year," Frasco stated.
Frasco said the President has accomplished so much in his first 100 days of the administration, especially in promoting the Filipino herald in the global spectacle.
The tourism chief also expressed admiration for President Marcos Jr.'s unwavering support of the tourism industry.
"He has led the effort by focusing firmly and primarily on the recovery of the economy upon which millions of Filipinos' lives depend. We're grateful that he has identified tourism as one of his priority agendas," she said.
According to Frasco, this reflected the efforts made by the administration to promote the recovery of the Philippine tourism industry.
"Considering that tourism, as we speak in the Philippines, used to contribute over 12% of our GDP or over 2.5 trillion pesos. With his constant message of hope and support for the tourism industry, we have felt the reverberation of hope across our tourism stakeholders," Frasco further added.