Tourism arrivals on the upswing in the Philippines
International visitor arrivals to the Philippines grew by more than seven per cent to 2.2 million in the first quarter of 2019, Philippine Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said on May 5, expressing confidence that the number will hit another record-high for the full year.
Romulo-Puyat said that in March alone the Department of Tourism recorded an increase in foreign arrivals by 11.1 per cent to 714,309 from a year ago.
South Korea remained the top source of foreign tourists that came to the Philippines in the first quarter of this year, followed by China, US, Japan and Australia.
The tourism secretary said direct flights from countries where foreign tourists come from helped boost tourist arrivals. She noted that the first quarter figures showed that the Philippines was “on track” to hit the tourism department’s target of 8.2 million international tourists for 2019.
In 2018, a total of 7.1 million foreign tourists visited the Philippines, tallying the highest number in the country’s tourism industry.
The growing arrival numbers are partly attributed to improved air connectivity, particularly with the opening of the Mactan-Cebu Airport and the Bohol-Panglao Airport last year, and added connections by discount carriers.
Other reasons are the enhanced offerings of tourism products which, apart from beach and diving tourism, include hiking tourism, research and education tourism, arts and crafts tourism, pilgrimage tourism, fiesta tourism and wellness tourism. The clean-up and reopening of the popular holiday island Boracay also played a role.
International visitor arrivals to the Philippines grew by more than seven per cent to 2.2 million in the first quarter of 2019, Philippine Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said on May 5, expressing confidence that the number will hit another record-high for the full year. Romulo-Puyat said that in March alone the Department of Tourism recorded an increase in foreign arrivals by 11.1 per cent to 714,309 from a year ago. South Korea remained the top source of foreign tourists that came to the Philippines in the first quarter of this year, followed by China, US, Japan and Australia. The tourism...
International visitor arrivals to the Philippines grew by more than seven per cent to 2.2 million in the first quarter of 2019, Philippine Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said on May 5, expressing confidence that the number will hit another record-high for the full year.
Romulo-Puyat said that in March alone the Department of Tourism recorded an increase in foreign arrivals by 11.1 per cent to 714,309 from a year ago.
South Korea remained the top source of foreign tourists that came to the Philippines in the first quarter of this year, followed by China, US, Japan and Australia.
The tourism secretary said direct flights from countries where foreign tourists come from helped boost tourist arrivals. She noted that the first quarter figures showed that the Philippines was “on track” to hit the tourism department’s target of 8.2 million international tourists for 2019.
In 2018, a total of 7.1 million foreign tourists visited the Philippines, tallying the highest number in the country’s tourism industry.
The growing arrival numbers are partly attributed to improved air connectivity, particularly with the opening of the Mactan-Cebu Airport and the Bohol-Panglao Airport last year, and added connections by discount carriers.
Other reasons are the enhanced offerings of tourism products which, apart from beach and diving tourism, include hiking tourism, research and education tourism, arts and crafts tourism, pilgrimage tourism, fiesta tourism and wellness tourism. The clean-up and reopening of the popular holiday island Boracay also played a role.
