Tourism booms as more than 8mn visit nation
Tourism is booming in the Philippines with more than 8mn visitors coming in 2019, the government said yesterday.
“Breaking the 8mn mark is another milestone to celebrate, as it marks the unprecedented growth of the country’s tourism industry,” Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat said in a statement. The Department of Tourism (DoT) welcomed on Friday the country’s eight millionth visitor — a Japanese. “The momentous occasion is part of the DoT’s tradition of celebrating the arrival of significant number of tourists following the welcoming of the Philippines’ five millionth visitor in 2015,” Puyat said.
She attributed the historic 8mn mark to a number of factors, especially to the coming of Chinese holidaymakers, the refreshed “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” campaign, and the reopening of Boracay island resort after a six-month clean up.
Puyat said advocating sustainable tourism also improved air connectivity and hosting of big ticket tourism events. It also helped to promote digital and online marketing, different tourism product portfolios, including culinary tourism and farm tourism, healthy private-public partnerships, international accolades and recognitions. The detailed report of visitor arrivals for 2019 will be released early in January next year.
The Philippines hopes to reach its target of 8.2mn foreign tourist arrivals in 2019, a million higher than 2018.
China, being its second largest tourist origin, the Philippines has welcomed a total of 1,499,524 Chinese tourists in the first 10 months of the year, increasing 41% from the same period in 2018.
Every week, more than 300 flights are shuttling between China and the Philippines. According to the Philippines Statistics Authority, tourism industries contributed 12.7% to the Philippine economy in 2018.