Tourist arrivals hit all-time high of 2.6M in January-October

Foreign tourists continue to flock to the country despite the global financial crisis, the Department of Tourism (DOT) said yesterday.

The DOT said tourist arrivals reached an all-time high of 2,607,118 in the first 10 months of the year.

The figure was four percent higher compared to the number of international arrivals during the same period last year, the DOT added.

Tourism officials attributed the steady growth in number of foreign tourists to new markets in Russia and India, which posted a 36.7 and 15.36 percent growth.

“These new segments augmented the slowdown of growth rates from traditional source markets such as Japan and Korea which have been affected by the financial crisis in the United States,” the DOT said in a statement.

The DOT said tourist arrivals from ASEAN countries rose by 8.64 percent or 211,120, with tourists from Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand posting 32.07, 10.85 and 10.28 percent growth.

The Scandinavian market of Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark also registered a significant 12.98 percent growth over previous year’s volume of 30,091, the DOT added. 

This market has continued to surpass record growth rates registered by traditional sources, the DOT said.

Tourists from France went up by 20.94 percent and the United Kingdom by 13.99 percent during the 10-month period following the DOT’s launching and promotion of diving, bird watching and adventure programs in these markets.

The number of visitors from the United Arab Emirates went up by 32.07 percent, with the maiden participation of the DOT in two major international travel fairs, namely the Arabian Travel Mart and Health Care Travel Exhibition in Dubai.

Tourists from the United States also grew slightly by 0.56 percent, DOT said.

However, Alejandra Clemente, Federation of Tourism Industries of the Philippines president, said fewer foreign tourists are coming to the country as a result of the financial crunch.

Foreign tourists, particularly those from the country’s top market of Japan and South Korea have sharply went down for the past months, she added.