The growth of tourist arrivals this year look very encouraging with 400,000 overseas tourists more than in 2018 having visited the country during the first five months of this year. It clearly indicates that the preservation of environment can go hand in hand with economic gains.
May was the month with the highest rate of growth with 15.62 percent increase of arrivals on month-per-month bases – from 537,743 travellers in 2018 to 621,719 this year.
South Korea remains the country’s number one source market. During January–May, the Philippines welcomed 788,530 Korean tourists, a 11.76 percent growth compared to 2018. They account for 22.6 percent of the total foreign tourist arrivals.
China, a close runner-up, sent 733,769 visitors and demonstrated a staggering 30.96 percent growth. Chinese travellers have 21.03 percent market share.
The USA sits on the third line with 472,469 (+1.98%) tourist arrivals.
Other important source markets during January–May were Japan, Taiwan, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The European countries all showed very modest growth while arrivals from Singapore fell 14.38 percent.
Foreign Tourist Arrivals Are Up in Philippines in Jan–May
News in Asia
According to the Department of Tourism (DOT), the first five months of 2019 brought a total of almost 3.5 million tourists to the Philippines, a 9.76 percent increase compared to the last year’s figures.