BI reported a slight increase in passenger traffic during Holy Week breaks

The Immigration Bureau said it saw a slight increase in passenger traffic during the holy week break.

In a statement dated April 17 but posted on the BI Facebook page on Monday, Carlos B., head of the immigration port operations department. Capulang reported a slight increase in passenger arrivals on Good Friday and Black Saturday.

“A total of 13,783 passengers arrived on Friday, compared to a total of 15,234 on Saturday,” he said. “There was a slight increase from the 11-12k average arrivals we saw in the last few days.”

BI data shows that the average daily arrivals at the airport increased from 13,000 to 15,000 in April, and from 6,000 to 9,000 in March.

Mr Kapulung added that immigration officials had processed an average of about 12,000 departing passengers last week.

The bureau said its activities during the holy week went smoothly.

Immigration Chief James H. Morente had earlier warned immigration officials about the expected increase in travelers during the last holy week.

Last week, BI also removed the requirement of an arrival card to return Filipinos to facilitate processing.

Mr Kapulung said the arrival or landing card was no longer needed in the country due to the recent decline in coronavirus cases.

The Department of Tourism (DoT) says more than 186,000 foreign tourists have arrived since February 10, when the border was eased for non-visa countries and for all countries effective April 1.

In 2020, the contribution of the tourism sector has dropped from 12.8% in the previous year to 5.4% due to the global epidemic.

The DoT said more than a million workers in the industry were affected by the epidemic. – John Victor d. Ordonez