RP expects 3 million tourists this year -- tourism chief

Tourism Secretary Ace Durano said the Philippines would likely hit the three million foreign tourists target set by the Department of Tourism for 2007.

"2007 is a monumental year for Philippine tourism. This is the first time that the country will be accommodating more than three million tourists," Durano said in a statement read by DOT Central Visayas regional director Patria Aurora Roa during the opening of the three-day Philippine International Tourism Fair (PITF) on Wednesday.

Over 100 foreign and 300 local buyers converged in Cebu to attend the PITF and the Philippine Travel Exchange (Phitex), two major tourism events designed to boost tourist arrivals here and in the rest of the Central Philippines.

Organized by the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies (Naitas), the PITF is the country's first international tourism fair while Phitex is a project of the tourism department.

Durano noted that the PITF, like other travel fairs, would help travelers learn about the country's wide range of tourism products.

Inquirer.net, Philippines