Foreign tourists to Philippines up 15 percent in 2019, exceeding target
The total number of international tourists to the Philippines in 2019 increased 15.24 percent year-on-year to hit record 8.26 million, surpassing the set target, the Philippine Department of Tourism (DOT) said on February 17.
A street of flower stores in Manila, the Philippines (Photo: AFP/VNA)
Singapore (VNA) – The total number of internationaltourists to the Philippines in 2019 increased 15.24 percent year-on-year to hitrecord 8.26 million, surpassing the set target, the Philippine Department ofTourism (DOT) said on February 17.
Almost all months, except January, registereddouble digit growth rates, the strongest of which was August at 27.54 percentwhile December recorded the highest number of foreign arrivals at nearly776,800, the ministry added.
Those from theRepublic of Korea (RoK) are still the top tourists of the country with a totalof 1.98 million or a 22.48 percent growth.
China was hailedthe second top source market with 1.74 million visitors or a38.58-percent increase.
The US comes thirdwith 1.06 million arrivals, followed by Japan with 682,788.
Australia, Canada, the UK, Singapore, Malaysia,India and Germany also sent large numbers of holidaymakers to the Philippinesin the year.
Last April, the DOT launched a tourism campaign with the “It’s More Fun in thePhilippines” slogan, aiming to welcome 8.2 million foreign visitors in 2019.
In the same year, the ministry also launched amovement called “Save Our Spots” to call on each individual to be a responsibletourist and encouraging others to preserve the country’s natural and man-madewonders./.
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A street of flower stores in Manila, the Philippines (Photo: AFP/VNA) 
