From January to March 2019, the country welcomed 2,204,564 foreign visitors, 7.59 percent more on year-to-year bases. Recently, the DOT has been working hard to enhance the country's tourism products and infrastructure and it started bringing the results with more tourists choosing the Philippines as their next destination.
The three main source markets for the Philippines are South Korea, China and the USA. South Korea tops the list with 519,584 tourist who vacationed in the Philippines, some 8 percent more than during the previous year; China is a close runner-up with 463,804 tourists and a whooping 24.87 percent increase compared to 2018; The United States come the third with 293,780 visitors. Taiwan is the country that showed the largest growth in terms of visitors arrivals with 30.11 percent.
Other countries which citizens were seen in the Philippines in numbers are Japan, Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, Singapore, Malaysia, India, and Germany.
The DOT attributes the growth in tourist arrivals to the success in rehabilitating of Boracay Island that has set a model of sustainable tourism development for the whole country. Since its reopening in October last year, Boracay continues attracting visitors though the daily limits have been set up and are srtictly followed. Improved connectivity between the destinations within the country is also credited for the upward trend in tourist arrivals to the country.
Tourist Arrivals in Philippines 7.59% Up in First Quarter 2019
News in Asia
The Philippines saw a 7.59 percent increase in tourist arrivals in the first quarter of 2019, the Department of Tourism (DOT) reported. The growing number of tourists indicates that the country's tourism "is on the right track."