Foreign tourist arrivals up 7.6% to 2.2 million in Q1

NADI – The government is on track to meet its tourist arrival targets this year, with the number of visitors from January to March growing by 7.59 percent compared to the same period in 2018, according to figures released by the government yesterday. 

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said here in this Fijian city that in the first three months of the year, 2,204,564 foreign travelers visited the country, up from 2,049,094 in the first quarter of 2018. Last month, 714,309 tourist arrivals were recorded – up from 642,757 in March 2018, or an increase of 11.13 percent. 

South Koreans continued to account for the largest number of visitors, followed by travelers from China, the United States, Japan and Australia. 

Records of the Philippine Statistics Authority show that 7.1 million travelers visited the country in 2018. Puyat said the six-month shutdown of Boracay led to the loss of some 500,000 visitors, making the government miss its target of 7.4 million. 

This year the government is targeting 8.2 million visitors.

Tourism contributed 12.2 percent to the gross domestic product as of June 2018. Puyat said this is higher than the global average of 10 percent of GDP. 

She said the government is also on track to meeting the goal of 89 million domestic tourists by 2022 under the National Tourism Development Plan, with 97 million recorded in 2017, including those who embarked on multiple trips.