Philippine Department of Tourism expects 3M tourist arrivals in 2009

The Philippine Department of Tourism (DOT) projects a 3-4M tourist arrivals this 2009 despite the global financial crunch.

This projection is due to the momentum generated by the agency’s aggressive sales blitz in its major and emerging tourism markets like China, Russia and other European countries. DOT launched recently DOTs Tourism Apprentice Program, another investment of the department to train students of tourism-related courses as DOT’s ambassadors by exposing them to our tourism destinations.

These include Davao, Palawan, Cebu, Boracay, Iloilo, Bohol and Bacolod. The apprentice program will tap graduating students from several private schools as well as state-owned schools with the support of Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

With the freeze of hiring abroad due to the global financial crisis, DOT expects the graduates to tourism-related courses to be employed in the Philippines. DOT is eyeing the five-million mark in tourism arrivals by 2010, when the global economy is expected to bounce back.

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