Over 3.4 million foreign tourists have visited the Philippines between January to May of 2019, a marked improvement on the visitor arrivals for the same period in 2018.
The 2019 rate is 9.76 percent higher than last year’s figures, according to the Department of Tourism (DOT) industry performance report.
“The numbers are very encouraging. From 3,178,984 tourists recorded from January to May in 2018, we are already close to breaching the 3.5 million mark this year. This only shows that the preservation of our environment can go hand in hand with economic gains,” said DOT Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat in the report published on the agency’s social media on July 8.
The month of May has the highest month-per-month growth rate this year to date, surpassing last year’s record by 15.62 percent.
According to the DOT report, Korea still tops the country’s foreign visitors market with 788,530 January to May arrivals, covering 22.6 percent of the total 3,489,270 tourist arrivals. It 11.76 percent higher compared to the figures for the same period last year.
China ranks second with 733,769 arrivals or 21.03 percent market share, marking a significant 30.96 percent increase.
Here are the Top 10 foreign tourists visiting the Philippines for the first five months of 2019:
- Korea (788,530)
- China (733,769)
- USA (472,469)
- Japan (281,988)
- Taiwan (128,986)
- Australia (123,851)
- Canada (114,605)
- United Kingdom (92,914)
- Singapore (64,951)
- Malaysia (62,144)
Aside from Korea and China, Taiwan placed fifth with a remarkable double-digit increase in tourist arrivals this year compared to last year.
TELL US in the comments below of your favorite travel experience in the Philippines!
Like, Follow, Subscribe to GoodNewsPilipinas.com Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Good News Pilipinas! TV on YouTube, new story notifications and e-mail newsletters for updates on more Filipino Pride stories.
