Philippine Department of Tourism posts 1.9M tourist arrivals in 7 months
The Department of Tourism (DOT) recorded visitor arrivals of 1,919,130 from January to July 2008, a growth rate of 6.1 percent from last year’s 1,809,539.
ASEAN had arrivals of 146,291. Singapore, which is part of the ASEAN, had recorded arrivals of 57,332; Malaysia, 39,515; Thailand, 19,121; Indonesia, 15,997, Vietnam, 6,125; Mynamar, 2,852; and Brunei Darussalam, 1,928.
East Asia recorded tourist arrivals of 840,828 which is composed of Korea, 380,619; Japan, 216,114; China, 102,653; Taiwan, 72,946; and Hong Kong, 68,496 for the period under review.
South Asia posted arrivals of 25,911 while the Middle East had arrivals of 24,339.
For the seven months of 2008, North America recorded arrivals of 428,117, comprising the USA, with 366,662 arrivals; Canada, 60,667; and Mexico, 788.
South America composed of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela recorded arrivals of 1,894.
Europe, composed of four continents, posted arrivals of 194,156, with Western Europe, 82,264; Northern Europe, 83,561; Southern Europe,18,526; and Eastern Europe, 8,805.
Australia/Pacific posted arrivals of 99,495; Africa recorded 1,893 while others and unspecified residences, 31,913.
The overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) posted arrivals of 124,193 for the period under review.
Meanwhile, the Tourism Research & Statistics Division, Office of Tourism Development/Planning listed 12 of the countries with the highest growth rate for the seven months of 2008.
These were Korea with 19.8 percent growth rate; USA, 19.1 percent; Japan, 11.3 percent; China, 5.3 percent; Taiwan, 3.8 percent; Hong Kong, 3.6 percent; Australia, 3.5 percent; Canada, 3.2 percent; Singapore, 3.0 percent; United Kingdom, 2.8 percent; Malaysia, 2.1 percent; and Germany, 1.7 percent.
