1.2M tourists in Puerto Princesa Underground River by 2016–officials

Puerto Princesa — With the increasing popularity of the Puerto Princesa Underground River, especially now that it is officially one of the new natural wonders in the world, tourists in the area may reach 1.2 million in 2016, more than double the number of visitors in 2011.

Puerto Princesa Underground River

In fact, scientific projections of the Puerto Princesa City Tourism Office foresee that some two million tourists would flock to the PPUR by 2025, according to City Tourism Officer Rebecca Labit.

Labit said that in 2011, there were 500,146 visitors to the PPUR, a number that brought in P9 billion in tourist receipts — or the amount spent by tourists — in Puerto Princesa.

In fact, the PPUR has proven to be so popular now that Labit was advising potential visitors to book their visits in advance as hotels. were fast filling up and Puerto Princesa officials have imposed a cap on the number of daily visitors who could enter the underground river.

She said most hotels were hard pressed to accept walk-in guests as many of them were fully booked or more than half full.

“Book as early as now so that you would not be disappointed,” she told reporters.

Labit said hotels in Puerto Princesa, including small pension houses and inns, numbered about 100. There are about 2,000 rooms available at any given time, and could accommodate some 4,000 people.

The number of tourists in the city average some 1,200 to 1,500 a day. In the past, it got about 10 visitors a month.

Environment officials said infrastructure in Palawan, especially Puerto Princesa, were expected to be beefed up following the international recognition of the PPUR as a world wonder. Among the expected projects is the construction of additional hotels and the improvement of the airport.

According to Labit, the number of tourists in Puerto Princesa has been on an upward trend since the 1990s, especially after the underground river was declared a Unesco World Heritage.

But when the campaign to include the PPUR among the new seven natural wonders in the world began sometime in 2007, the number of visitors skyrocketed.

She said that in the past, the increases in the number of tourists was around 18 to 20 percent. But in 2010, there was a 50 percent increase.

The increasing number of tourists in the past few years has also been reflected in the amount of money they have spent in Puerto Princesa.

For 2009, total tourist receipts amounted to P3.2 billion, while in 2010, these added up to P6.2 billion.

Labit said a tourist spent an average of P4,000 to P5,000 per day in Puerto Princesa. She notes that the cost of tourism in the city is more expensive compared to vacationing in Hong Kong, for instance.

She said accommodations tended to be more pricey, and there were tourists who could not help but purchase what the city offers, such as pearls.

The PPUR was officially declared one of the new seven wonders of nature in January, and was also on the provisional list released in November last year.

The subterranean river was hailed for its complex cave systems and unique cave formations, and for supporting one of the major biodiversity areas in the Philippines.

It has proven to be a virtual gold mine for scientists, especially with regard to the study of how the earth evolved.