UNABATED influx of Korean visitors helped drive up total tourist arrivals to 393,589 in September, which increased by 7.46 percent from the same period a year ago, the Department of Tourism said on Wednesday.
The DOT data released this week noted that at least 115,147 visitors that constitute 20.72 percent of the total tourist arrivals are Korean nationals.
The increase was also driven by growth rates from top source markets such as China, with an arrival contribution of 53,015, outranking the USA which provided 51,866 arrivals.
Japan came fourth at 43,525 arrivals.
Trailing behind were Taiwan with 20,773 arrivals and Australia with 17,584 visitor count.
“We are well underway to achieving our target of six million international visitor arrival by the year’s end, thanks to the support of all stakeholders in the tourism sector,” DOT Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo said.
Meanwhile, visitor receipts from January to September of 2016 increased by 5.76 percent with P178.48 billion (or $3.8 million) total versus the P168.75 billion earnings for the same period in 2015.
Among the top markets, Canada registered the highest per capita expenditure.
On average, a Canadian visitor spent P 76,670.97 during their stay.
Visitors from the United Kingdom came second with per capita spending of P 47,433.21. Korea followed with P 43,963.64 per capita expenditure.
As of September 2016, the country had welcomed 4,464,992 visitors, 12.08 percent higher than the accumulated 3,983,627 arrivals in the same period last year, making DOT’s 6-million target arrivals on track.
“The growth in tourism figures can be attributed to massive marketing campaigns of the tourism department to increase awareness on different Philippines destinations,” Teo said.