Tourist arrivals grow 14.5% in July

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine tourism sector sustained its growth in July as foreign travelers continued to flock the country during the month, the Department of Tourism (DOT) said yesterday.

According to the latest report from the DOT, international tourist arrivals rose 14.5 percent to 560,872 last July.

“The increase in visitor arrivals for July is driven by the said month being the peak season for foreign tourists to travel – because it’s their vacation period – and due to the peaceful transition of government leadership,” Tourism undersecretary for development planning Rolando Canizal told The STAR.

This brought the  total number of  foreign visitors to 3.54 million from January to July this year, up 13.83 percent from the 3.11 million recorded in the same period a year earlier.

Data from the DOT showed that Korea remained the top market of Philippine tourism in July with 142,793 arrivals. This was 19.7 percent higher than the previous year’s 119,292 visitors.

China has overtaken the US as the second biggest contributor in tourism arrivals, growing by 22.72 percent to 81,843.

The US came third with 74,899 arrivals, an increase of 14.84 percent year on year.

Trailing behind were Japan with 44,434 arrivals, Taiwan (23,894), Australia (19,232),  United Kingdom (16,980), Singapore (14,153), Canada (12,558) and Malaysia (12,022).

The Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the country’s main gateway, welcomed majority of the arrivals (358,168 visitors) during the period.

Meanwhile, visitor receipts grew 14.08 percent to P148.56 billion as of July.  For July alone, tourist receipts increased 10.49 percent to P21.19 billion.

Visitors’ average daily expenditure during the period reached P5,194.27, while the average length of stay was 8.47 nights. Average per capita expenditure of visitors was P43,995.49.

Canizal earlier expressed confidence the country would hit its tourist arrival target of six million this year.