By Hilda Austria/PNA
ALAMINOS CITY, Pangasinan — A total of 547,412 tourists visited the famous Hundred Islands National Park (HINP) here from January 1 to December 31 last year, resulting in PHP43.19 million in income for the city.
In an interview Thursday, City Tourism Officer Miguel Sison admitted that the tourist arrivals in 2018 declined by 2.6 percent compared to the recorded tourist arrivals of 561,909 in 2017.
“The decline was caused by the weather disturbances, not just in the province, but all over the country, wherein during those times, we needed to close the islands from tourists, especially during typhoons, or if the gale warning was up,” Sison said.
Pangasinan was hit by several typhoons that caused flooding last year starting July, while the HINP was only accessible through boats from the Lucap Wharf at the city proper.
“We were only able to pick-up again last December. We are glad we still exceeded last year’s income amounting to PHP41.05 million,” Sison said.
The city began implementing discounts to bona fide Pangasinenses last December 8 and will continue until the last week of May this year to encourage local tourism.
“The HINP’s income would have been higher if there was no promotion,” he added.
Sison further said the HINP has had a “good start” this year, as some 3,564 tourists visited the islands on January 1 and some 2,847 tourists on January 2, while a cruise ship is set to arrive this January.
“We hope to add more staff in preparation for the Holy Week and the summer season, which is the peak season at HINP,” he said.
Meanwhile, another hotel will be constructed at the Lucap Wharf this year to accommodate more tourists who would stay overnight.
