MANILA, Philippines — Tourist arrivals in the country from January to October grew by 15 percent — from 5.9 million to 6.8 million — with Koreans and Chinese exceeding their headcount for the entire 2018.
According to the Department of Tourism, for the first 10 months, South Korea remains the country’s largest market with 1.61 million tourist arrivals — higher than their recorded visit of 1.59 million from January to December last year.
Chinese rank 2nd
Coming in second was China with almost 1.5 million arrivals, having the highest growth among the top markets at 41.13 percent. The number already surpassed the 1.25 million Chinese tourists recorded in 2018.
They were followed by the United States with 872,335 (up 2.53 percent), Japan with 569,625 (up by 7.43 percent) and Taiwan with 282,220 (up 36.77 percent).
Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat attributed the “encouraging”figures to the country’s improved air connectivity, intensified marketing promotions including the refreshed ”It’s More Fun in the Philippines” campaign, budding relations with other countries, as well as the growing recognition of the country’s sustainable tourism advocacy.
As of October, tourism arrivals were pegged at around 83 percent of this year’s target of 8.2 million under the National Tourism Development Plan.