The Department of Tourism (DOT) revealed that the Philippines reached 8.26M international tourist arrivals in 2019 that exceeds the 8.2 million target.
Respectively, the annual tourist arrivals grew by 15.25% from 2018’s 7.17 million international tourists arrivals in 2018.
“Almost all months, except January, registered double-digit growth rates, the largest of which was August at 27.54%, while December recorded the highest volume at 776,798,’’ the DoT reported.
“The annual tourist arrivals breached the eight millionth mark, thanks to the department’s ‘convergence programs with other government agencies, particularly in improving access as well as product development and marketing initiatives with local government and private sector’,” DoT Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat mentioned.
Moreover, athletes and other neighboring Southeast Asian countries were attracted when the Philippines hosted the 30th Southeast Asian Games from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11.
South Korea has been the country’s top source market since 2010. The data from DoT showed that South Korean tourists inched up to 22.48% in 2019 which consists of 1.98 million.
“However, industry stakeholders are bracing themselves for a decline in international tourist arrivals this year as many have canceled or are putting off travel due to fears over the continued spread of the pneumonia-like coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19),” report from Business World said.
The International Tourists Arrivals in 2019
Next to South Koreans, there are 1.74 million Chinese arrived in the Philippines last year, this is the fastest pace among the 12 visitor markets, according to DoT.
“United States was the third-biggest source of visitors with 1.06 million, up 2.90%. This was followed by Japan with 682,788 arrivals (up 8.07%), and Taiwan with 327,273 arrivals (up 35.01%),” report stated.
On the 6th spot, tourists from Australia reached 286,170 (up 2.27%), followed by Canada with 238,850 (up 5.48%), and the United Kingdom with 209,206 (up 4.06).
 revealed that the Philippines reached 8.26M international tourist arrivals in 2019 that exceeds the 8.2 million target.){kind=link}