Foreign tourist arrivals in the Philippines have reached over 4 million in the first half of the year, marking an 11.43% increase in 2018 figures.
A total of 4,133,050 international tourists visited the Philippines from January to June, 2019, according to the August 12 report sent by the Department of Tourism (DoT) to Good News Pilipinas.
Foreign tourist arrivals In the month of June 2019 reached 643,780, recording a 21.41% increase compared to the same period in 2018.
In a prior DoT report, the foreign visitor count for January to April 2019 totaled 2,867,551. The midyear count indicates over 1.2 million visitors arrived in the peak months of May to June.
DoT Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat has credited the growth of the Philippine tourism industry to better and increased connectivity with new, rehabilitated and expanded airports.
Noting how the 4 million mark was breached in just 6 months this year whereas the same figure needed one year to reach in 2012, the Philippine tourism chief said, “By expanding our portfolio of tourism products and by developing and promoting our lesser-known but emerging destinations, we have attracted a large yet diverse set of foreign travelers and have sustained our growth in the highly-competitive South East Asian region.”
The top 5 source markets of foreign tourists for the first half of the year are:
- South Korea
- China
- United States
- Japan
- Taiwan
The DOT also welcomed the US Homeland Security’s decision to lift its public notice on travel to NAIA following the “significant improvements” in the airport’s security operations.
“With the recent development of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to rescind its Public Advisory on security issues at NAIA, we can expect more travelers from the US to visit the Philippines in the coming months.”, remarked Puyat.
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