PH int’l visitors receipt up 20.81 percent

By Faye Almazan, Manila Times, 3 March 2020

Receipts from international visitors climbed to $9.31 billion in 2019, or 20.81-percent higher than the 2018 figure of $7.71 billion. According to the Department of Tourism (DoT), South Korea, which remains to be the country’s top source of foreign visitors, incurred the highest tourist spending at $2.614 billion. China came in next at $2.330 billion followed by the United States at $1.208 billion. Japan, Canada, Australia, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, Germany and Malaysia complete the top 10. The DoT noted that all months except January, exhibited a double-digit growth in visitor spending with August posting the highest at 31.45 percent. Meanwhile, the month of December contributed the largest amount at $872.13 million. Data from the DoT showed that a foreign guest’s average daily expenditure in the county was at $128.35. Furthermore, their average per capita expenditure for a whole trip is estimated at about $1,218.04 on an average length of stay of 9.49 nights.