Tourist arrivals outnumber residents 7-to-1 in Palawan, says gov

Coron, Palawan (Saiko3p / Shutterstock)

MANILA — It looks as though Palawan should start catching up on its population growth.

According to Palawan Gov. Jose Chavez Alvarez, tourist arrivals in the province outnumber its residents in a 7-to-1 statistics.

Recent data from the Department of Tourism (DOT) showed that the province acquired more than 900,000 visitor arrivals in 2014 while its population size was only more or less a million residents.

The provincial government of Palawan plans to acquire 1.4 million visitor arrivals by the end of the year and 3.5 million in 10 years.

Alvarez said that although this was only minor setback, the priority now is to improve tourism infrastructure, connectivity, livelihood, water, electricity and the like to serve the increasing tourist arrivals.

At present, roughly Php 2.07-billion has been earmarked by the provincial government of Palawan for tourism development, according to DOT Region IV-B director Atty. Minerva Morada.

Morada said that this amount will be used for over 30 convergence projects.