MANILA, Philippines — The number of foreign tourist arrivals has surpassed the five million mark in August 2019 to almost 5.6 million, the Department of Tourism (DOT) said.
The DOT recorded 5,554,950 inbound foreign guests from January to August 2019, or 14.08 percent higher than last year’s 4,869,417.
For August alone, the DOT said foreign tourist arrivals increased 27.54 percent to 702,843 compared to last year’s 551,088.
Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said the agency owes the increase in arrivals to the efforts of stakeholders in the private sector as well as the local government units (LGUs).
“This is very encouraging even as we await the completion of the statistics gathered for the month of September. The convergence approach of the DOT with other government agencies and its partners in the industry is proving effective in expanding travel connectivity while inviting more tourists to come and visit through more enticing tourism products and packages,” Puyat said Sunday in a statement.
South Korea continues to be the country’s top tourist market registering 185,334 tourists in August alone, the DOT said.
Behind South Korea are China 170,903, Japan with 78,699 and the US with 68,418 for the month of August. /jpv