Philippines’ tourism sector posts revenue loss of over 8 billion USD
The Philippines lost around 400 billion pesos (8.3 billion USD) in tourism revenue in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a tourism official.
Hanoi (VNA) – The Philippines lost around 400 billion pesos (8.3billion USD) in tourism revenue in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, accordingto a tourism official.
Tourism Undersecretary officer-in-charge Roberto Alabadotold a congressional hearing that only 1.3 million foreign tourists visited thePhilippines in 2020, or more than 80 percent lower than the 8.3 millionvisitors to the Southeast Asian country in 2019.
The abrupt fall in tourist arrivals affected around 5.7million jobs in the tourism sector, he added.
Alabado stressed the need to revive the tourism industrybecause of its contribution to the economy.
The tourism industry contributed 12.7 percent to thePhilippine economy in 2019, the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
The coronavirus epidemic forced the Philippines and manycountries to impose lockdown measures to curb its spread by closing borders.Tourism activities ground to a halt affecting various enterprises anddisplacing workers.
The Philippine government is slowly easing domestic travelrestrictions as it began reopening destinations for domestic travel with healthand safety protocols in place./.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced on February 1 that it has allocated 25 million USD to help the Philippine government purchase COVID-19 vaccines.
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Indonesia’s waste generation is projected to exceed 50 million tonnes in 2025. Of the total, more than 20 million tonnes could potentially enter the ocean through rivers, coastal areas, small islands, ports, and marine activities, and thereby, pose a risk to coastal ecosystems and marine biota.
Indonesia is accelerating plans to increase lithium imports, particularly from Australia, in a bid to fill gaps in the electric vehicle (EV) battery supply chain and realise its ambition of becoming a global EV manufacturing hub.
Taking samples for COVID-19 testing (Photo: VNA) 
