THE PHILIPPINE STAR

busingss : t"r*.oo" l.tt*'o*I11t939-

NEDA contiddnt of 6% growth in Ql -She recognEed, however,
tions im-plemenle
that the tra"vel and tourism io-*.Utn" ,pr"ua
""J.:::,1.13"V"1-L.E-I.,1A.'...-.
. Economic srowth in ,h" lllH'""J"I:1,':i"';j";ilf ?jJX*:llfll;
ql9l qllaltel can be expected standing to lose P22.7 billion elonomy remain
to remain at around six percent permonth including domestic the same.
as the economy remains resil- ajrline receipts. lo encourage domestic travel,
ient to headwinds and public Travel and lourism - both Edillon said *re govemment and
sqlLlbOgnt o4 the novel qqpna- foreign and domestic - makes the indusky must exert effort to
virus COWD-19 outbreak be- up 12.7 percent of the country's address fears in travelling.
gins to improve, the National' gros-s domestic product (GDP). "l ihink ihe approach to
Economic-and Development NEDA's preliminary esti- glis is to manage the fear (of
Authority (NEDA) saidi mates show that if the coro- travel). We only hav_e, three
"l thinkwehavea fighting navirus contagion positive cases so far' lt's also
chance," SocioeconomiiPlan"- persists for one important to hav€ lulltor two
ning Secretary and 5gp4qhig1, honth at the cur- up to three- weeks before we
Emesto Pemia told reoorters. rent pace. 0.0o per- have the domestic tourism
"People are now be{inning centage poini ofthe Projlgyo"': said Edillon'
to be less *o.n"a (ufori tiiE CDP"will
-'- p":1"9 be im- Edil],on also noted thatif the
spread of the COVID-ISI; contagion Persists six months
' He said despite COvII;-tS,s If the contagion onwards, several tourism-
initial impact or, ,.uuuI uij extends up to-five related hdustries sho'ld brace
tourism, iilipino" 111"v'tt." months from
-t """^' 0.3 perc€ntage now' for gr€ater impaci as letting go
take to local taavel, of some workers may be nec-
offsetting the blow point of-the GDP cesssary'
to inbound tourism.
will be affected'
lttheprcsenttwel '?Ae' 91
"Maybe domes- of conta4on lingers
tic tourism will pick
up. so we,il kind ll_.*1^]t""1:1Lh:l
oi compensate for 1",1"^Y::':,7
potnt
intemaiional tour- Y/.,ryrcent1ge,
or me counry s ecD-
"Air-
ism," he said.
output wix be"
lines are giving Hmic
discounts so that These estimates
willentice a lot of were arrived at as-
travellers.,, suming.a 1oo Per-
He likewise
noted thur u l:oi o'i.:i.r;
structure projects under the
trff;i:::?ifl
ists comins from
government's infrastructure China and J10 per_
program are now being im- cent reduction on
plemented, boosting govern- the number of tour_
ment sPending ists comins from
-
- ln a ioint inquiry of the com- ot1,"..o""tfi""
mittees of tourism and eco- The govemment
nomic affairs of the House
of Representatives yesterday, HXffigffit*?X
NEDA_Undersecretary_Rose- Ch*a Ho"g K;;t
marie Edillon said the Philip- and Macau.
pine economy can be expected Another as_
to remain resilienL despiG the sumption made in
spread of COWD-19 ds it is not coming up with
strongly dependent on tourism the estirnates is that
and intemational hade. present interven-