Philippine Tourist Arrivals and Hotel Occupancy Rates Continue To Increase

It seems that more tourists are coming in and staying longer. However, they seem to be a little budget conscious, compared to last year. Let's hope that the recent devaluation of the very strong peso will make them spend more, in the coming days.

Despite the increase in available rooms this year, hotel occupancy in Metro Manila for April this year was at 74.7%, a little higher than the record for same period last year. The March record (74.7%) also surpassed the 2007 performance (71.5%) all due to the higher number of tourists coming in.

The economy hotels had an average occupancy rate of 70.8 percent, compared to 66.5 percent last year. The standard hotels reported 76.2 percent against 72 percent last year. In terms of deluxe room occupancy and length of stay, the figure for April 2008 also showed an improvement (74.6% from 66.3%). However, the eight first class hotels registered a slowdown with a performance rate of 72.9 percent, compared to last year's 76.1 percent.

January and February 2008 registered an average of 73.4% and 79% respectively.