WATCH: DOT says tourism arrival improves despite Boracay closure

MANILA, Philippines — Despite six-month temporary closure of world-famous island Boracay, the Department of Tourism on Thursday said that tourism arrival in the country increased by 7.43 percent from January to October this year.

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said the DOT recorded 5,880,895 tourists in the country from January to October. The number is 7.43 percent higher than the 5,474,310 recorded during the same period last year.

Boracay was closed to tourists from April 26 to October 26 upon orders of President Rodrigo Duterte to rehabilitate the island.

DOT Undesecretary Benito “Bong” Bengzon Jr. said that due to the closure, the country lost approximately 500,000 tourists but some of the traffic was diverted to other tourist destinations such as Bohol, Palawan and Cebu.

The Tourism department earlier set it 7.4 million tourist target for 2018. However, Puyat said she is no longer confident the country will reach the target due to the six-month closure of Boracay. 

According to DOT, Koreans remain to be the top tourists in the country. It is followed by tourists from China, United States, Japan and Australia.