Tourist arrivals hit close to 4m last year—Jimenez

Foreign tourist arrivals in the Philippines hit a record high last year, surpassing the government’s expectations and bolstering hopes the 10-million mark could be breached in 2016.

The Tourism Department said Thursday 3.92 million foreign tourists visited the country last year, 11.3 percent higher than the 3.52 million registered in 2010, and surpassing the government’s target of 3.7 million by 4.6 percent.

“When the industry exceeds expectations as it had done last year, we feel very encouraged. And with the overwhelming response to our new brand campaign launched last month, we know that we have broken ground on crowdsourcing. The people’s campaign will help bring more numbers,” Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. said in a statement.

In its Web site, Tourism said the country ended 2011 with 394,567 tourists arriving in December, a monthly high.

Arrivals in November improved 19.8 percent year-on-year to 337,021 visitors.

Ten out of the 12 months last year saw arrival figures above 300,000. The 2011 figure also includes returning Filipino from overseas, who numbered 207,152.

East Asia continued to lead all regional markets with 1,837,681 arrivals, 46.91 percent of the entire number last year.

Korea remains the single-biggest market with 925,204 arrivals for a 23.62-percent share. Elaine Ramos Alanguilan, Manila Standard Today