DOT: Tourist arrivals up 15% to 6.8-M in first 10 months of 2019

MANILA, Philippines — Foreign tourist arrivals increased 15.04 percent to 6.8 million in the first 10 months of 2019, the Department of Tourism (DOT) said.

According to the DOT’s data released Monday, a total of 6,800,052 international tourists arrived in the country from January to October or higher than the 5.9 million visitors of the same period last year.

The DOT said South Korea remains the top source market with a total of 1.6 million arrivals.

The tourism agency said this number is expected to “further improve” following the signing of the tourism cooperation program between the Philippines and South Korea during the recently held Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Republic of Korea (ASEAN-ROK) Commemorative Summit.

China was the second top source of tourists with 1.4 million arrivals followed by the United States with over 872,000 arrivals, the DOT said.

Apart from the increase in tourist arrivals, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat highlighted several awards the country has recently received.

“The collective efforts and resolve of the whole tourism industry have paid off with the continued increase in our visitor arrivals and tourist receipts as well as recognitions from major international award-giving bodies,” Puyat said.

The Mactan-Cebu International Airport Terminal 2 recently earned the top prize in the Completed Buildings-Transport Category at the recently-concluded World Architecture Festival.

The Philippines also bagged back-to-back diving recognition at the World Travel Awards in Muscat, Oman after being named Asia’s Leading Dive Destination.

Edited by MUF