Araneta Center, Cubao, Quezon City
8 March 2016

President Benigno S. Aquino III stressed the significant contribution of the newly built Novotel Manila Araneta Center to the Philippines’ tourism sector by way of providing accommodation to the increasing number of tourists who visit the country every year.

At the grand launch of the hotel located in Quezon City, the President reported that back in 2012 after the successful “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” campaign of the Department of Tourism (DOT), there were projections that the 162,493 hotel rooms would not be enough to handle the influx of the expected visitors, thus, there was a need to build new rooms by 2016.

According to President Aquino, by the end of 2014, a total of 221,486 new rooms across the country were built, surpassing the target of 37,352 rooms. Tourist arrivals likewise grew from 3.52 million in 2010 to 5.36 million in 2015 that have a direct impact on the incomes of Filipino workers “from local tour guides and handicrafts vendors, to the men and women employed in hotels like this one.”

Moreover, it is expected that the number of tourists will still grow as the number of flights to various locations around the country have increased through the Pocket Open Skies policy and the reforms being implemented in civil aviation.

“The Filipino people will make sure that we continue on that upward trajectory. Like the Accor Hotels Group and so many other present here tonight, I place my bets on my countrymen. Their inherent loyalty and love for country will guide them in choosing the path that will allow us to realize our dreams of a more inclusive and more progressive Philippines,” President Aquino said.

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