Palawan’s tourist arrival reaches 1.8 million in 2018
There were 1,809,880 tourists who visited Palawan in 2018, which is 21 percent higher compared to that in 2017 which is only 1.4 million tourists.
The Provincial Tourism Promotions and Development Department of the Provincial Government of Palawan said that 1,137,712 or 63% of the total tourist arrival were domestic tourists from the different provinces in the country, while 664,600 were foreign tourists.
“While we are happy with the increase (and) we have achieved the target, at the back of that overwhelming increase is to see to it that we will comply sa mga related laws and policies (and) that really leads to sustainability and inclusivity,” said Provincial
Tourism Officer Maribel Buñi.
She explained that the additional airports, seaports and roads contributed significantly to the boom of the tourism industry in Palawan.
Their office is currently conducting aggressive promotions, improvement of tourism services and train local communities to supply food, souvenir items and other products to tourists.
Among the top five foreign markets that visited Palawan were Koreans with 92,706 arrivals in
2018. Ranked second are Americans (US) with 64,701 closely followed by Chinese with 63,593. Taiwanese and French ranked fourth and fifth respectively with 51,409 and 26,286.
Other countries among the top ten were United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Spain and Australia.
Of the overall tourist arrival in Palawan, 1,278,318 visited Puerto Princesa City, 208,100 in Coron while 149, 948 in El Nido.
San Vicente is an emerging tourism destination with 35,050 tourist arrival last year which is 35 percent higher compared that in 2017.
Palawan targets 5million tourist arrivals by 2030.