More tourists visiting PH – DOT report

The Department of Tourism on Monday revealed that a total of 3,489,270 tourists visited the Philippines from January to May this year, a 9.76-percent increase from last year’s figure.

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said that from 3.4 million tourists recorded from January to May 2018, the figure was close to breaching the 3.5-million mark this year, showing that preservation of the environment could go hand-in-hand with economic gains.

Puyat said she was pleased to note that for the month of May, tourist arrivals saw an exceptional 15.62-percent growth, the highest month-per-month growth rate so far in 2019, from 537,743 last year to 621,719 this year.

The Philippines’ top source market, South Korea, maintains its spot with 788,530 arrivals from January to May, about 11.76 percent higher than last year’s figure. Tourists from South Korea comprise 22.6 percent of the total tourist arrivals.

Nipping at the heels of South Korea is China with a 21.03-percent share of the market or 733,769 arrivals, a staggering 30.96-percent increase from last year’s figure.

Maintaining its third and fourth rankings are the United States with 472,469 and Japan with 281,988.

Another market with a remarkable double-digit growth rate is Taiwan at fifth place with 128,986.

Australia with 123,851, Canada with 114,605, and the United Kingdom with 92,914, posted positive growth placing sixth, seventh, and eighth, respectively.

Singapore is at the ninth spot with 64,951 with Malaysia wrapping up the top ten markets with 62,144.