NOY: PH ECONOMY ACCELERATES / BORACAY LOSES 200,000 CHINESE
TOURISTS
[PHOTO -President Benigno Aquino presides over a Cabinet
meeting in Malacañang on Friday, June 29, 2012. The meeting is about budget
preparations for next year. Photo by Gil Nartea, Malacañang
Photo Bureau]
MANILA, JULY 3, 2012 (ABS-CBN) From
Reuters Mobile- Philippine economic growth will accelerate in the
second quarter after expanding at a 6.4 percent annual rate in January to March,
the highest in six quarters, President Benigno Aquino said on Monday.
"My economic team tells me that the second quarter will be even more" than
the first quarter, he told Reuters in an interview. "It would be better than
that."
The Philippines is targeting growth of 5-6 percent this year, fueled by
higher state spending on infrastructure and healthy domestic consumption that is
boosted largely by an average of more than $1.6 billion in remittances sent home
monthly by Filipinos working and living overseas.
FROM THE PHILSTAR
Boracay loses 200,000 Chinese visitors By Evelyn
Macairan, The Philippine Star Posted at 06/30/2012 2:12 AM | Updated as of
06/30/2012 2:12 AM
[PHOTO -The Boracay Regency hotel: Less revenues PHOTO FROM BORACAYREGENCY.COM]
KALIBO, Aklan , Philippines – The territorial row between the Philippines and
China has taken its toll on Boracay Island, which lost around 200,000 Chinese
visitors after travel agencies from Beijing suspended travel packages to Manila
last May.
Aklan Gov. Carlito Marquez noted that Chinese tourists constitute around a
fifth of the visitors of the world-famous tourist spot.
"The ban imposed by China was a setback somehow," Marquez told reporters in a
press conference here last Thursday.
"Some carriers had to cancel flights. We lost a big chunk (of visitors). The
Chinese represent 15 to 20 percent of tourists," he added.
Marquez said about 986,000 visitors passed through their province's ports
last year. Hotel bookings, however, reached about 1.2 million as it included
those who did not travel by sea.
About 60,000 Chinese tourists visit Boracay every year through direct
international flights from China.
Based on Marquez's estimates, Chinese tourists who canceled their trips to
Boracay numbered from about 180,000 to 240,000.
Marquez is hopeful that the dispute between China and the Philippines over
the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal will be resolved peacefully.
"Nobody wants enmity. We want to coexist peacefully," he said.
Last month, Chinese travel agencies suspended tourist packages to the
Philippines amid a tense territorial row between the two countries over the
Panatag Shoal.
Chinese travel agencies even promised refund to customers who have booked
trips in a move viewed by some observers as a way to pressure the Philippines to
yield to China's position on the issue.
Known internationally as Scarborough Shoal, Panatag Shoal is located 124
nautical miles from the nearest base point in Zambales.
The area is within the Philippines' 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone
as provided by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
A standoff ensued on April 10 after Chinese maritime surveillance ships
prevented the Philippine Navy from arresting Chinese fishermen who had engaged
in illegal fishing and harvesting of endangered species in the area.
The Philippines has protested China's action and has called for a rules-based
approach to resolve the row.
China, however, insisted that it has sovereignty over the area even if it is
a signatory to UNCLOS.
Beijing has also rejected efforts to involve the international community in
the dispute, which has raised concerns among governments that are worried about
its impact on freedom of navigation.
Both Manila and Beijing back peaceful means to resolve the row despite
reports of bullying by Chinese ships of Filipino vessels and fishermen.
Latest surveillance reports from the Navy revealed that a total of 28 Chinese
ships and boats are still in the shoal, 23 of them inside the lagoon of the
disputed area.
Manila no longer has ships in the hotly contested area after President Aquino
ordered two Philippine vessels to leave the shoal this month allegedly due to
bad weather.
Ordered to return to port were a Philippine Coast Guard ship and a Bureau of
Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessel which have symbolized the country's claim
over the area.
It remains unclear whether Malacañang would order a redeployment of
Philippine vessels in the shoal.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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