Q1 tourist arrivals breach 2M

International tourist ar‑ rivals for the first quarter of 2018 breached the two million mark, according to the Department of Tourism (DOT).

Tourism statistics tal‑ lied 2,049,094 international visitors for the first quarter of the year, which is 14.80 percent higher compared to 1,784,882 for the same period in 2017.

Korean, Chinese and American visitors comprise more than half of tourist ar‑ rivals for the first quarter.

From the more than 86,000 gap between the Korean and Chinese tourist arrivals in January, the Chinese closed the margin to just 7,838 in March, on a per month basis.

The Chinese remains the fastest growing market with 114,549 visitors for the month of March, at a remarkable 50.42 percent growth rate, compared with the Koreans at 122,387.

First quarter Chinese travelers registered 371,429 arrivals, trailing behind the Koreans at 477,087 for the first three months of the year.

Not to be outdone, Amer‑ ican tourists ranked third with 284,946, followed by the Japanese at 181,178 and Australians at 74,027.

Also included in the top twelve tourist source mar‑ kets are Canada, 70,501; Tai‑ wan, 59,877; United King‑ dom, 56,521; Singapore, 44,398; Malaysia, 37,090; Hong Kong, 36,777 and In‑ dia, 32,999.

The latest United Nations World Tourism Organiza‑ tion (UNWTO) Barometer named Chinese tourists as the world’s top tourism spenders for 2017.

The report cited that Chi‑ na spent the most at $258 bil‑ lion, followed by America at $135 billion, Germany at $84 billion, the United Kingdom at $63 billion and France at $41 billion.