Tourist arrivals breach 2-M mark

The tourism industry continued its upward trend as it breached the two million mark in international arrivals for the first four months of the year.

Latest data from the Department of Tourism showed that foreign visitors in the country hit 2.07 million from January to April 2016, up 15 percent from 1.8 million in the same period a year ago.

For April alone, international tourists rose 11.3 percent to 471,598.

The country’s tourism industry has consistently grown by double digit in the past four months – 13 percent in January, 20 percent in February, 12 percent in March and 11 percent in April.

“These encouraging tourism figures can be attributed to the DOT’s aggressive marketing activities, international events held in the country, and the foreign markets’ increasing awareness of the product offerings of the different Philippine destinations,” Tourism Undersecretary Benito Bengzon said.

Receipts from tourism activities for April increased four percent to P19 billion, bringing the four-month tally to P86.7 billion or up 12 percent year on year.

East Asia contributed the biggest arrivals for the country with 1.02 million visitors or almost half (49.2 percent) of the total visitor volume.

Korea remained the top contributor of international tourists with a total of 481,596 arrivals or a 23 percent share of the total inbound traffic.

The US supplied the second biggest inbound arrival with 303,951 visitors while the Chinese market also grew and ranked third with a total of 238,523 visitors.

The fourth and fifth major markets were Japan with 183,620 and 88,496 arrivals, respectively.

Other top visitors include Taiwan (71,656 arrivals), Canada (68,288), United Kingdom (63,039), Singapore (61,033) and Malaysia (48,835).

For this year, the DOT is eyeing 6.5 million international arrivals.